The development of the South Area is exciting news for the city of Cebu and holds great promise for a planned community with world recognition and great vision is needed.
The piecemeal development of the North Reclaimation area, the poorly maintained roads, and still many vacant lots 20 years later gives reason for instead a planned development of the South Area such as the one that might be negotiated with SM if proper staffguards were written into the contract to allow a planned development to take place. Foreigners are starting to come here with the price of quality education a good price just like medical tourism, why not have SM develop a University too as students become a magnet for the mall business as you find in Manila SM near Universities. Yes even a Mactan like export processing zone could be incorporated into the terms of the contract with SM and real estate examples in Manila like the amazing multi towered condos developments underway at the Megaworld Manhattan Graden city at Arneta Center QC.
The sprawl of retail stores and restaurants commingling with residences and commercial buildings just attest to the integrated lifestyles urban people lead now. I see the facelifts that are taking place in the most prominent malls nowadays. Whether these were spurred by competition or upgrading consumer's shopping experience, or both, there is no doubt that we, the public, benefit from this. The changes actualized are reflections of a changing society as well. Even in the USA many people are moving back to the city to be near stores, colleges.
Cityland has excellent value for the money and are quickly bought up and would be a great development for SM partner in a coventure of condos, colleges, and malls
http://www.citylandcondo.com/properties.html so a joint venture with city land would provide housing for the new SM university and customers for a SM mall.
Parents from all over the Philippines buy condos for their students in Manila and the same could happen in Cebu as it is a magnet for students from Letye, Bohol, Negroes and Mindanao.
(http://condominium4u.googlepages.com/) condo/mall like Robinsons Place Manila
The south area is idea for a planned community of universities/hospitals/condos/stadium/sports area/offices/export processing zone/malls/business park/ it zone/call centers/museums/hotels/casino/convention cener/film studios/amusement park/retirement communities all in a planned development that is world class all tied together in an amazing mix of with a transportation hub/entertainment/parks/strolling areas/entertainment with restaurants and fireworks along the waterfront like Manila's Board walk and creating thousands of jobs. And world recognition for a well planned master plan.
Why not make this a hotel concentration area for transportation to other islands link right at the hotels, convention center, sports arenaand casios to rival Macau as Cebu is centrally located allowing other islands to come to Cebu and spend their money in a world class environment?
And if a signed commitment with SM Prime indicated when each component was to done by an exact date, the city of Cebu woould have a world class development. Why only allow the Ayala Business Park to shine, why not two world class developments in Cebu with wide roads, sidewalks and to rival Singapore! Parks and water front boardwalk development would allow a world class tourist attraction as well.
I have included two links online related to the worldclass SM Mall of Asia in Manila (footnote 1) and the economic benefits of the new Bacolod SM Business Park (footnote 2)
A world class planned community would really put Cebu City on the map with forward thinking leaders and plans. Good luck.
footnote 1 Mall of Asia in Manila shows the way for multiple uses for call center buildings, offices, coliseum (with ample parking...5,000 spaces), IT development, central transportation hub (even a tram) and this could all be within Cebu City not neighboring towns (and the tax base would be amazing)!
The Mall of Asia http://wikimapia.org/83627/ was constructed within the reclamation area, west of Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City, aptly nicknamed "Bay City". It is built on 19.5 hectares of reclaimed land and has a gross floor area of 386,224 square meters. The mall is located at the southmost tip of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue. A roundabout was constructed in the front of the mall with a huge bronze globe similar to Universal Studios. An esplanade was constructed at the back of the mall where it served as the observation center for the First World Pyro Olympics in December 2005.
The mall consists of four buildings interconnected by walkways: the Main Mall, Entertainment Mall, and the North and South Carpark Buildings. One of its unique features is a 20-seater tram to make it easier for shoppers to go around. The management’s priority is to make sure shoppers will not get lost inside the mall. There will be two concierge desks—one in the Main Mall and another in the Entertainment Mall. Maps will be given out, and there will be signs aplenty. The Main Mall will include shopping and dining establishments, the food court. The South Parking building will house the SM Department store and half of the 5,000 parking spaces while the North Parking building will include the SM Hypermarket, a spacious office space and more dining areas.
The mall’s newest attraction is the Pacifica Entertainment Plaza. Besides bowling and billiards facilities, the building will house 10 theaters, including a Director’s Club and the first ever IMAX theater in the Philippines. The theater, named as the San Miguel Coca-Cola IMAX Theater would also have the largest screen in the Philippines at 22 x 30 meters, similar to the height of an eight-story building. The CenterStage Cinema which can used for live musical concerts and theatrical performances, and six regular cinemas. The mall also features an Olympic sized skating rink and a science museum. The mall also provides office space. Dell International Services (call center), a subsidiary of Dell, Inc. occupies a 13,470.5-square meter area at the second floor of the north parking building of the mall.
Adjacent to the south parking building, a two-hectare area has been allocated for the site of a 16,000-capacity multi-purpose coliseum/arena for sporting events, concerts and entertainment shows. It is set to rival the 50-year old Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. Furthermore, a planned convention/conference center measuring 12,000 square meters will be built as an attractive venue for major conferences and trade exhibits. The convention center once constructed, will be a newer alternative to the Philippine International Convention Center, erected in 1976, located a few blocks away. Along with this, two hotel developments, one with a casino, are also planned for construction.
Also set to the right of the north parking building, The SM iCity is a 69,300-square-meter area allocated to serve as a prime venue for companies engaged in software development and IT-enabled services. A mix of single and multi-storey buildings will be developed to provide for the office and workspace requirements of prospective IT-related locator companies and for support office and backroom operations of business process outsourcing. The first building, OneE-comCenter, began March 8, 2006 and is scheduled for completion in July 2007.
An esplanade was constructed at the back of the mall where it served as the observation center for the First World Pyro Olympics in December 2005. My comment: If done in Cebu city, then a world class waterfront in a PLANNED development could result where citizens could walk along the tree lined waterfront and have central transportation links like Baywalk Manila.
Henry Sy, owner of SM Malls said that the name of the biggest mall of asia will be lost come 2007 due to the structural expansion of
SM City North EDSA. The
SM City North EDSA is the centerpiece project of SM Prime at the newly developed SM Central Business Park, where five one-story buildings serve as the company's corporate offices.
The mall is very different from the other SM malls, as it does not follow the usual SM mall format. It is the second SM mall to cater to the upper and upper-middle class, the first being The Podium and the 7th high-end mall in Manila, after Ayala Center Makati, Shangri-La Plaza Mall, Alabang Town Center, Power Plant Mall and The Podium. It has many foreign luxury stores, such as Zara, Marks and Spencer, Tag Heuer, Charriol, Calvin Klein and some other foreign brands. It also has high-end restaurants.
The SM Mall of Asia is the largest shopping mall in the Philippines and the third largest shopping mall in the world in terms of gross floor size. It is owned and operated by SM Prime Holdings, under the management of Henry Sy, a Filipino-Chinese business tycoon — regarded as one of the wealthiest men in Asia.
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footnote 2 SM in Bacolod to snowball small businesses By Erwin Ambo S. Delilan
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/bac/2007/03/02/news/sm.to.snowball.small.businesses.htmlTHE Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) is confident that the presence of SM City-Bacolod will cause the mushrooming of small businesses in the periphery of the reclamation area.
MBCCI Vice President for Internal Affairs Frank Carbon said with 3,000 to 4,000 people employed by SM City, "I am confident that boarding houses, eateries, among other small-time businesses, will sprout in the areas beside Manokan Country, Vendors' Market, Dawis, and Barangay 16."
With this scenario, "I am pretty sure that money will just be around the city and this is good for our local economy," Carbon said.
Carbon said he is also grateful that SM City did not only give benefits to Bacoleños but also to some Negrenses as far as San Carlos City in the north and Hinoba-an in the south.
He said a lot of Bacolod and Negros businessmen will also be given opportunity to think of another business ventures that SM could not give to the public.
Meanwhile, Bacolod Lone District Rep. Monico Puentevella said "SM City is a long awaited project for several years. So it's about time for us to enjoy it. Let's all welcome SM to the City of Smiles and hope that our local economy picks up more."
For his part, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said "With SM, small and medium industries in Bacolod will also be given hope to shine benefiting the ordinary people by generating jobs and providing income to small manufacturers and vendors alike."
Leonardia said SM City will also be a big factor for the tourism and investment promotion of the city.
As for the plan of SM management to also put up a convention center soon, the mayor is confident that Bacolod will soon be "the real premier City in the south where residents have a high sense of pride of the place, of self, and display significant value of concerns for the common good."
And with the presence of call centers - Teletech, IOAsia, Focus and TelePerformance, Leonardia is also confident that the city will soon shine in economically.
And with all these potential customers nearby, why not have entertainment and restaurants along Taft Ave like you have done in SM Cebu that face the street and can stay open all night if desired?
And with all these potential customers nearby, why not have entertainment and restaurants along Taft Ave like you have done in SM Cebu that face the street and can stay open all night if desired?
