THE Ayala Malls Group, a subsidiary of Ayala Land Inc., opened recently its newest flagship retail center, called The 30th. The P2.5-billion community mall is at 30 Meralco Avenue, and is Ayala’s first commercial development in the center of the Pasig-Ortigas business district.
Sitting on a 2-hectare property, The 30th’s four-level expanse houses an outdoor recreation area called the “corte”, four state-of-the-art cinemas, a Rustan’s Supermarket and 184-tenant leased stores that include service centers, apparel shops and countless specialty restaurants. It has three levels of basement parking and three activity areas (one outdoor and two indoors) for play.
“Each of the development of Ayala Land is developed with a particular market in mind. For this project, since it’s surrounded by residential areas and the cosmopolitan Ortigas Central Business District, we picture that all the markets will be served here,” Ayala Malls Group Senior Division Manager and Area Head Aurora Legarda said.
On the north of the site lies modern residential developments, such as the Renaissance Towers and The Alexandra, as well as schools like Saint Paul College Pasig. “Our competitive advantage is accessibility and convenience to the community that we’re serving,” Legarda added.
Meanwhile, 20 floors of office spaces above the shopping center will be open for lease to business-process outsourcing companies and local companies.
Beyond a shopping and dining destination, Ayala Malls is hopeful that The 30th will become a mixed-use commercial hub.
The property giant also said that following the opening of Ayala Malls’s The 30th, six new developments are set to open this 2017.
“We will end the year with over 1.8 million square meter of owned and managed leasable spaces,” head of Ayala Malls Group Head Rowena Tomeldan said. Tomeldan said the total cost for these projects is P16 billion, disbursed over a period of three years, and will add 225,000 sq m of gross leasable area to the company’s mall portfolio.
The other upcoming six malls are the 40,000-sq-m Ayala Malls in the Vertis North estate in Quezon City; the 39,000-sq-m Ayala Malls in the Cloverleaf estate in Balintawak; the 13,000-sqm Ayala Malls in Marikina Heights; the 79,000-sq-m Ayala Malls Feliz on Marcos Highway, also in Marikina; the 21,000-sq-m One Bonifacio High Street in Taguig; and the 6,000-sq-m Ayala Malls Southvale in Alabang.
The malls will open over the course of 2017, with Ayala Malls Feliz touted as the company’s largest mall project.