Monday, January 30, 2023
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home Business

Fort Bonifacio eclipsing Makati CBD

Roderick T. dela CruzbyRoderick T. dela Cruz
January 3, 2015, 10:20 pm
in Business
Reading Time: 7 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

Fort Bonifacio, a new city that has risen from a former military camp in just a decade, is set to become the country’s top commercial business district soon, eclipsing the Ayala Center in nearby Makati City, according to real estate executives.

The well-planned business district on the borders of Taguig and Makati, where power lines are laid underground and a modern sewerage system is in place, will soon become the home of the Philippine Stock Exchange, which is transferring from the Makati CBD in 2016.

“Dubbed as the next Makati, Bonifacio Global City is set to be the future financial district in the Philippines. The establishment of a new Philippine Stock Exchange, which will be part of a mixed-use block to be developed by Ayala, is one of the factors that signal a possibility of this trend,” says real estate services firm KMC Mag Group.

Bank headquarters

An aerial view of Fort Bonifacio commercial business district.
MANNY PALERMO

Multinational banks such as Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp., Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank AG and J.P. Morgan Chase Bank established their headquarters, along with their back office operations in Fort Bonifacio CBD.  Globe Telecom, one of the country’s most profitable companies, made a bold move of transferring its more than 1,000 employees to Fort Bonifacio last year.

ADVERTISEMENT

St. Luke’s Medical Center, one of the country’s top hospitals, opened a 16-story medical building with 600 patient beds and 374 doctors clinics and 10 institutes in 2009. Several foreign embassies have relocated to Fort Bonifacio, which now has two major shopping centers–SM Aura Premier and Market! Market and several retail outlets and restaurants at High Street, Serendra, The Fort Square and The Fort Strip. Two world-class hotels will soon open in Fort Bonifacio, including Shangri-La at the Fort and Grand Hyatt Hotel.

“Is Fort Bonifacio on track or preparing to be the main CBD of the Philippines? If the current trajectory or the current growth momentum continues, I guess the answer is yes,” says Megaworld Corp. senior vice president Jericho Go, who is in charge of the real estate company’s projects in Fort Bonifacio.

Biggest landlord

Megaworld, the property development arm of tycoon Andrew Tan, is the largest landlord in Fort Bonifacio, with a landbank of 105 hectares in the CBD, including the now fully-developed 50-hectare McKinley Hill.  Other developers, with long-term contracts with state-run Bases Conversion Development Authority in Fort Bonifacio, include Ayala Land Inc., Bonifacio Land Development Corp., Evergreen Holdings Inc., The Net Group, Federal Land Inc., Vista Land Inc., Century Properties, DMCI Homes, Arthaland, Northshore Holdings Inc. and SM Prime Holdings Inc.

Megaworld Corp. senior vice president Jericho Go

Fort Bonifacio CBD is comprised of several townships, one of them the Bonifacio Global City of the Ayala Group. Federal Land of tycoon George Ty has the 27-hectare North Bonifacio district. Megaworld has four townships in Fort Bonifacio, including the 50-hectare McKinley Hill, 34.5-hectare McKinley West, 15.4-hectare Uptown Bonifacio and 5-hectare Forbes Town Center.

Megaworld alone has 34 residential buildings with 4,713 condominium units and 17 office buildings with a combined 300,000 sqm of office space in McKinley Hill, which the company describes as the emerging center of metropolitan business.  McKinley Hill is also home to the British, South Korean, United Arab Emirates and Qatar embassies and international schools such as Enderun Colleges and the Korean International School Philippines.

“Several premium and Grade A buildings with sustainable and efficient design are also set to be opened within the next two years, showing the city’s huge potential to match Makati’s amount of supply and surpass its buildings’ standards,” says KMC Mag Group, an international  associate of Savills, one of the top real estate firms in the world.

Office space stock

KMC Mag Group says while Makati and Ortigas CBDs still have more office buildings than Fort Bonifacio, this will not be the case in the next few years.  It says in terms of premium or Grade A office space, Fort Bonifacio has already outpaced Ortigas and will likely surpass that of Makati soon, given the shortage of land in Makati. “Because of the shortage of developable land in Makati CBD, there is currently only one office development, Frabelle Business Center. It is slated to add only 8,000 sqm of leasable space once turned over by the end of the year [2014],” it says.

KMC Mag Group says developments in Makati CBD, which has total stock of 1.1 million sqm of Grade A and premium office space, are expected to stagnate in the following years.

It says while Ortigas, home to local conglomerates such as Jollibee Corp. and San Miguel Corp., is still the second largest CBD in the country, “its stock is outdated and Grade A office space is only at 568,000 sqm,” compared to Fort Bonifacio’s more than 700,000 sqm.

“The current stock of premium and Grade A office space in BGC will soon match Makati CBD’s existing stock as there are several new developments in the district,” KMC Mag Group, which is headquartered in Fort Bonifacio, says in its mid-year 2014 report.

New developments

Megaworld says it is developing another 50 hectares in Fort Bonifacio.  “Because Makati has already matured, there are only a few number of vacant spaces for development. Having said that, Megaworld continues to have substantial presence in Makati as well.  That’s why we have a Makati group that continues to build residential condominiums there for sale. But of course Fort Bonifacio, as I have said, as far as Megaworld is concerned, we are the largest landlord there. We have 105 hectares of landbank.  About 50 percent of that is developed. McKinley Hill is 50 hectares. So the balance, that is still up for development,” says Go.

KMC Mag Group describes Fort Bonifacio as a rapidly expanding CBD that is home to premier residential and office spaces.  “Good infrastructure development and high-quality office spaces have enticed BPOs, multinational companies and conglomerates to set up their offices in the area. It also hosts several international schools, museums, public parks and a premier medical facility catering to its growing cosmopolitan community,” it says.

KMC Mag Group says the completion of Panorama Tower and 11th Corporate Center

increased total stock of Grade A office space in Fort Bonifacio to 700,000 square meters.  The figure likely added another 90,000 sqm by the end of 2014 with the completion of MDi Corporate Center, Uptown Place Tower 1, Twenty-Four Seven McKinley, Orion and Del Rosario Law Building. Grade A office space monthly rent in Fort Bonifacio hovered at more than P800 per sqm, up by 8 percent from 2013.

Growth driver

KMC Mag says Fort Bonifacio is now the most active business district, generating over 50 percent of the growth in the property market. The increase is driven by the bullish office markets, especially BPO companies who opt to locate in the buildings in the area.  Rental rates in Fort Bonifacio are also slightly lower than in Makati.

It says Fort Bonifacio has more available space for rent or lease and sale compared to Makati, as most buildings are still in development. Stocks, however, are quickly declining due to high demand in the area.

Megaworld has a major stake in the continuous expansion of Fort Bonifacio. “I think Fort Bonifacio will continue to be a strong driver for growth for the company in terms of revenue and recurring income.  But having said that, we are also emboldened to continue to grow our business in the provinces in Iloilo, Cebu and at some point Davao as well. This helps us balance our portfolio,” says Go.

Land prices

The popularity of Fort Bonifacio as CBD, however, has driven land prices to the roof.  Colliers, another real estate research firm, says land values in Metro Manila reached a new peak in 2014.

“Land values have now, after 17 years, exceeded their previous 1997 peak,” Colliers says, noting that pension fund Government Service Insurance System sold two lots in Fort Bonifacio, with land areas of 1,600 sqm each, to Focus Palantir Inc. and Goldenwill Inc. Focus Palantir won the bidding for the first lot with an offer of P500,000 per sqm while Goldenwill won the second lot for P458,000 per sqm. These figures match the land values in Makati and surpassed the land value in Ortigas at only P154,000 per sqm.

Colliers estimates that by the end of 2014, total office space stock in Metro Manila reached 8 million sqm, including 2.85 million sqm in Makati, 1.383 million sqm in Fort Bonifacio, 1.378 million sqm in Ortigas, 397,863 sqm in Alabang, 300,263 sqm in Eastwood and 1.764 million sqm in other locations.

Real estate prospects

Business executives remain bullish on the prospects of the real estate sector, despite the rising land values that may lead to a price bubble.  Ayala Land president and chief executive Bobby Dy says the Philippines is entering a demographic sweet spot, where more young individuals join the labor force and contribute to the economy.  He says this will keep the economy and the real estate sector afloat in the coming years.

Philippine Savings Bank president Vicente Cuna Jr. agrees, saying monetary officials at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas put in place the necessary policy to avert any real estate price bubble.  “The new regulations are meant for the BSP to be ahead of the curve. I don’t think they see a bubble.  The banks are still lending, the banks have not stopped lending for housing.  The BSP is taking a precautionary stance by being ahead of the curve. It is a proactive stance,” he says.

Go, the senior vice president of Megaworld, says the sustained growth of the real estate sector will be good for the economy.  “When we develop townships, there is such a big multiplier effect that we are able to achieve. If we only develop 100,000 sqm of office space every year, we should be able to create direct and indirect employment of 250,000 jobs a year.  So in four years time, that’s about a million,” he says.

“We are very optimistic about the prospects for real estate sector for 2015. The reason we are saying this is because we continue to receive a healthy pipeline of demand for office and BPO sector. We all know that once this creates employment, then the multiplier effect is always triggered. There is a need for transportation, for residences, for retail, for food, for medical care and the likes. That’s why we want to continue to move forward in terms of our development and as part of our commitment to nation building,” Go says.

Go says five years from now, Fort Bonifacio “is going to brim with a lot of employment opportunities, fueled by business process outsourcing and of course, hand in hand with that, the need for more places to reside. That fuels spending, retail will follow suit.” 

“They are all saying that in terms of number of new condominiums, offices being developed, Fort Bonifacio has already outpaced Makati,” says Go.

“It all boils down to proper planning. Megaworld has four townships in Fort Bonifacio. We would like to believe we are in the forefront of helping achieve that vision of creating a vibrant, new central business district in the Philippines,” he says.

ADVERTISEMENT
Roderick T. dela Cruz

Roderick T. dela Cruz

Related Posts

San Miguel set to bag P27-b Cavite-Batangas Expressway

byDarwin G. Amojelar
January 29, 2023, 7:10 pm
0
8
Cavite invites challengers on SMC’s P27-b expressway

San Miguel Corp. is set to bag the P27-billion Cavite-Batangas Expressway Project, after the provincial government of Cavite said it...

Read more

New DBP president vows to support infrastructure development

byManila Standard
January 29, 2023, 7:05 pm
0
8
US trade shifts away from China but no ‘decoupling’ yet

A prominent and seasoned banker formally assumed the position as head of one of the largest government financial institutions in...

Read more

PH banks kept credit standards unchanged in Q4

byJulito G. Rada
January 29, 2023, 7:00 pm
0
8
Banaag assumes post as Bright Kindle director

Banks in the Philippines kept credit standards mostly steady in the fourth quarter of 2022 and expect to continue the...

Read more

Meralco, Panay Energy asked to justify supply deal termination

byAlena Mae S. Flores
January 29, 2023, 6:55 pm
0
8
ERC to study Ilijan plant’s offer to Meralco

By Alena Mae S. Flores The Energy Regulatory Commission asked Panay Energy Development Corp., owner of two coal-fired power plants...

Read more

DTI discloses P629-b investment leads in renewable energy projects

byOthel V. Campos
January 29, 2023, 6:50 pm
0
8
Exporters urged to tap plant-based meat mart

The Department of Trade and Industry identified massive investments in the renewable energy sector in 2023 as more companies are...

Read more

SEC warns investing public on ‘impersonation scams’

byJenniffer B. Austria
January 29, 2023, 6:45 pm
0
8
SEC urges stronger cybersecurity steps

The Securities and Exchange Commission warned investors about the proliferation of “impersonation scams” which were defrauding the investment public of...

Read more

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • Globe logs over 11M prepaid SIM registrants, urges customers to register before April 26 deadline
  • Top Republican to meet Biden on avoiding US debt default
  • Columbia disaster that scuttled the space shuttle
  • ‘Drought’ has New Yorkers asking: ‘Where’s the snow?’
  • Russian shelling of Kherson leaves at least three dead
  • Israel punishes attacker’s family as violence rages
  • Gandhi’s killer a hero to India’s diehard Hindu nationalists
  • Casualties as strikes hit convoy carrying arms into Syria: war monitor

Advertisement

Latest News

Israel punishes attacker’s family as violence rages

byAFP
January 30, 2023, 10:00 am
0
8
Israel punishes attacker’s family as violence rages

By Rosie Scammell Israel on Sunday prepared to demolish the east Jerusalem family home of a Palestinian man who killed...

Read more

Gandhi’s killer a hero to India’s diehard Hindu nationalists

byAFP
January 30, 2023, 9:00 am
0
8
Gandhi’s killer a hero to India’s diehard Hindu nationalists

By Jalees Andrabi Hindu fundamentalist Ashok Sharma has devoted his life to championing the deeds of an Indian "patriot": not...

Read more

Casualties as strikes hit convoy carrying arms into Syria: war monitor

byAFP
January 30, 2023, 8:00 am
0
8
Taliban govt resumes issuing Afghan passports in Kabul

Air strikes destroyed a convoy of trucks that crossed into eastern Syria from Iraq on Sunday, a war monitor said,...

Read more

Memphis police beating video sparks Rodney King comparisons

byAFP
January 30, 2023, 7:00 am
0
8
Memphis police beating video sparks Rodney King comparisons

By Huw Griffith Three decades ago, a bystander's grainy video of US police officers savagely beating a motorist eventually led...

Read more

IMF announces visit to crisis-hit Pakistan

byAFP
January 30, 2023, 6:00 am
0
8
IMF announces visit to crisis-hit Pakistan

By Ashraf Khan The IMF will send a team to Pakistan next week to discuss reviving a desperately needed bailout...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App