Commercial centers to give Eton P300-m revenues

MANILA, Philippines- Eton Properties Philippines Inc., the property development arm of the Lucio Tan group of companies, is expecting P300-million revenues annually from its soon-to-be-opened four commercial centers. Danilo Ignacio, Eton Properties president and chief operating officer, told reporters that despite launching the four commercial developments, the company will remain a residential developer. “The rentals of our commercial centers will be just small percentage of our revenues. We are mainly in the residential market," Ignacio said in a briefing. The first commercial project that the company will open is E-life. The project will be located at Eton’s new business process outsourcing campus, Eton Cyberpod Corinthian at the corner of Edsa and Ortigas Avenue. E-life will be an electronics haven, designed to be a one-stop digital hub for electronic gadgets, gaming, cellphone and computer fanatics. The project, which will be opened in the third quarter of the year, will cover 9,000 square meters of ground floor area. The next two commercial projects- Centris Statios and Centris Walk -are located at Eton Centris, a 12-hectare township development in Quezon City. Centris Station is a two-level commercial center to be anchored by SM Hypermarket and a mix of specialty food outlets, specialty stores and service-oriented shops. It will have a 15,000-square meter gross floor area. Centris Walk, on the other hand, will be a dining and entertainment strip, open-space commercial center covering a gross floor area of more than 14,000 square meters. The strip will offer retail spaces, 1,000 secured parking slots, covered walks and pedestrian-friendly promenades. Both Centris Station and Centris Walk will open in the last quarter of the year. The fourth project is the Green Podium, a two-level commercial center located at One Archers Place, Eton’s high-rise condominium project located next to De La Salle University. It will offer quick service restaurants, specialty shops, convenience and service-oriented outlets. The podium will have a gross leasable area of 3,000 square meters and is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2010. Ignacio also revealed that the company is projecting a 60-percent to 70-percent occupancy of their commercial projects upon their opening. He also revealed that the company is studying the possibility of putting up a wedding venue at Eton Centris. For the year, the company is completing the first residential building, which will have 100 units, of the North Belton Community in Novaliches, Quezon City. CMA, GMANews.TV