CEBU Holdings Inc. (CHI) is ramping up its estate development and leasing portfolio in the next five years.
Pipeline projects of the Ayala group-controlled company will bring in an additional 77,000 square meters of office and almost 63,000 square meters of retail space. This will bring CHI’s portfolio up to over 473,000 square meters of total leasable space in the next five years.
“CHI will continue to invest more on properties and leasing projects, a strategy that has contributed massively to the rise in the company’s consolidated assets,” CHI president Aniceto Bisnar Jr. said during the company’s virtual annual stockholders meeting Tuesday, April 14, 2020.
This is the first time the company held its meeting on a virtual platform due to the enhanced community quarantine in Cebu Province brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The property giant is developing new estates in Metro Cebu.
These include the Gatewalk Central with AboitizLand in Mandaue City, Seagrove with Taft Properties in Lapu-Lapu City and the 26-hectare development at the South Road Properties in a joint venture with SM Prime Holdings.
“These new estates are in key locations in Metro Cebu to catalyze inclusive growth with groundbreaking developments. As we have done in the past 30 years, we aim to transform land and help shape Cebu’s economic and social landscapes to make a life-changing impact on the community,” Bisnar said.
CHI is also set to complete by 2022 its co-living spaces called The Flats at Cebu Business Park (CBP) and Cebu IT Park (CITP). These will offer a total of 852 affordable co-living units for lease at strategic locations within these major business districts.
2019 performance
In 2019, the Ayala Land subsidiary increased its revenue by 29 percent to P4.8 billion. More than half of revenue came from its mall and office leasing.
Its net income last year nearly doubled to P1.7 billion from P857 million in 2018, breaching the billion-peso mark for the first time.
CHI is the developer of CBP and CITP. It is also the operator of Ayala Center Cebu and the newly opened AyalaMalls Central Bloc, as well as the eBloc Towers which house major business process management (BPM) and information technology investors in Cebu.
In 2019, CHI spent P1.62 billion to develop new projects and enhance existing projects. In the same year, the developer opened the 45,000-square-meter AyalaMalls Central Bloc at CITP.
On top of the mall is the 214-room Seda Central Bloc Cebu, which soft opened last February. Two BPM office buildings with a total of 72,000 square meters of gross leasable area will also be located within the two-hectare stacked superblock.
Covid-19 measures
Amid the enhanced community quarantine in Cebu, Bisnar said CHI ensures the continued wages for its employees, rent relief for retail merchants affected by the malls’ temporary closure and enhanced security and sanitation within its properties.
CHI is also tapping seamstresses from a neighboring barangay to make personal protective equipment to donate to local hospitals, in coordination with the group, #SOSCebu. The seed money for this initiative is from voluntary donations from CHI employees.
“We are confident that we have systems in place to quickly respond to these changes, and strong financial fundamentals as well to sustain the business through this extended disruption. We remain hopeful that the situation will normalize by 2021, and we are ready to get back in stride as soon as possible,” Bisnar said.
“We have before us the opportunity not only for growth, but also to make renewal possible and to offer hope, for all of the communities we serve,” he added.