CEBUANO developer Taft Properties has topped off the retail and office podium of the Tower 1 of its mixed-use project, the Taft East Gate.

The podium anchors the project’s residential and commercial components, with the retail podium set to open by the second quarter of 2020.

“We are now a step closer to becoming a one-stop, mixed-use development rising at the Cebu Business Park, one of the city’s premier business hubs,” said Myra Lynn Gilig, vice president and deputy chief operating officer of Taft Properties.

The 10-story podium will have a total of 2,514 square meters (sq.m.) of retail space, 6,145 sq.m. of office space, three basement parking levels for commercial tenants and four podium parking levels for condominium residents.

Gilig said Taft East Gate is now accepting letters of intent from interested retail and office tenants to locate in what is touted as the city’s “next premier lifestyle destination.”

She hinted that this upcoming retail destination will give Cebuanos an “experience centric” retail ambiance. She said they will introduce new and exciting retail concepts for the market to explore and eventually patronize.

“We will be bringing in new concepts for Cebu,” she said.

Taft East Gate sits on a 1.5 hectare property located on Cardinal Rosales Avenue corner Pope John Paul II Avenue. This is a 10-year micro-township development that will house four towers.

The phase one of the Taft East Gate will have two commercial space levels, two office space levels and 31 residential levels with 726 condo units.

Gilig said the residential component for Tower 1 is already 70 to 75 percent sold out. Sixty percent of the residential component are studio units and the rest is a mix of one-and two-bedroom and premier units.

The completion of Tower 1 is slated in the first quarter of 2021.

Following the progress of the project, Gilig said they are now on the planning stage for Towers 2 and 3 which will offer serviced-residence units.

Tower 4, on the other hand, will be a hotel to be anchored by Taft East Gate Mall.

Taft Properties is the property development arm of the Gaisano family’s Vicsal Development Corp., the company behind the Metro Gaisano chain of stores.

It is the developer of Horizons 101, Soltana Nature Residences, the Symfoniseries of condominiums in Cebu and Manila, Cera at Citation and Citation Residences in Laguna and the Taft East Gate.