Robinsons Land Corp., the property unit of the Gokongwei Group, plans to open 10 new malls between 2016 and 2017, mostly in areas outside Metro Manila.
Robinsons Land vice president of corporate lease department Lourdes Alano said in an interview at the sidelines of the 4th Asia Pacific Real Estate Investment Summit Philippines forum the company would open five new malls in 2016 and expand two existing outlets.
The new malls will be constructed in Tagum City, Davao del Norte; Jaro, Iloilo; Iligan City; Cebu Cityp; and General Trias, Cavite. Robinsons Land will expand malls in Ilocos Norte and Tacloban City.
“We hope to increase our gross leasable space by 10 to 11 percent. We’re are about one million gross leasable area now,” Alano said.
Five new malls, meanwhile, are scheduled to be opened in 2017. These are in Ormoc City, Leyte; Tuguegarao, Cagayan; Naga City; Valencia, Bukidnon; Kabankalan, Negros Oriental.
Robinsons Land has lined up future mall developments in Cabanatuan City; Calbayog, Samar; Abucay in Tacloban City; and Pavia, Iloilo.
Alano said Robinsons Land planned to open three to five malls annually over the near term period.
Alano said the company was venturing into greenfield areas because of positive demographics, including population growth, accessibility, increasing spending and competition.
“We are doing land banking activities not only in Metro Manila but Visayas and Mindanao area. But there is challenge in acquiring big parcels of land in Metro Manila,” Alano said.
Robinsons Land earlier said it aimed to double its net income to P9.4 billion by 2019 from P4.7 billion in 2014 and expand its four core businesses, namely residential, shopping, hotels and office buildings.
Robinsons Land is currently the second largest mall operator in the country with 39 outlets and total gross leasable area of 1.08 million square meters.
It is also one of the largest BPO landlords with 10 office buildings with a gross leasable space of 275,000 square meters. It operates 10 hotel properties.
For office development, the company aims to have 450,000 square meters of leasable space by 2018 and increase the number of hotel rooms to 2,887 by 2017 from 1,896 as of end 2014.
The company plans to double net income to P9.4 billion by 2019 from P4.7 billion in 2014, as it expands its four core businesses.
Robinsons Land president Frederick Go earlier said the company planned to build three to five malls annually.
“Our target is to double our net income from 2014 to 2019. That is our goal and we are all working towards that target,” Gokongwei said.
“We are expanding all our businesses, all our malls, all of office buildings, we are building more hotels and residential projects. All the four businesses we have we are all growing,” Gokongwei added.
Other property companies like Ayala Land Inc., Megaworld Corp. and SM Prime Holdings Inc. earlier announced their respective five-year investment plans.