Filinvest five-star hotel to open in Alabang

A five-star hotel by property developer Filinvest is set to open later this month in Alabang. The 345-room Crimson Hotel, an over P1-billion development by Filinvest Alabang Inc., a subsidiary of the Gotianun-controlled Filinvest Land Inc., is part of the four-tower Entrata Urban Complex beside Festival Supermall in Alabang. According to Filinvest Alabang Inc. president and chief executive Josephine Gotianun-Yap in a press briefing in Alabang on Wednesday, the hotel will employ some 300 to 400 when commercial operations start. A high-end shopping center on the ground and second floors of Entrata's first tower, which offers 400 small office units, will also open in the first quarter of 2013. Gotianun-Yap said that the new mall will complement the Festival Supermall, which is also being expanded to add 57,000 square meters of leasable space for retail and dining outlets and 110,000 square meters of floor area in total. Currently, more than 700 retail outlets occupy 135,000 square meters of leasable floor area. Other Filinvest developments in the area include The Levels, a four-building, California resort-inspired residential place for the middle market; and the five-tower Studio City in Northgate Cyberzone, Filinvest City’s IT park where some of the world's largest business process outsourcing companies are located. Also on Wednesday, FAI launched the world-class, 244-hectare satellite city Filinvest City, formerly the Filinvest Corporate City. "It is very strategically-located because of the projected connection of North Luzon Expressway and South Luzon Expressway," Gotianun-Yap said. "Every 15 years we look into our masterplan to attune it to the changing development in the region," she added. — BM, GMA News