Robinsons hotel, mall to rise on 6-ha Tagaytay lot

PATRICIA DE LEON, GMANews.TV Real-estate giant Robinsons Land Corp. is planning to further improve its six-hectare property in Tagaytay, and add a mall and hotel to its existing subdivision development. "We will break ground soon. 100-room hotel will be constructed simultaneously with the shopping mall," Robinsons Land Corp. president and chief operating officer Frederick Go said. Construction will begin by January next year. Go, however, declined to disclose the cost of the undertakings. The new developments will sit near the entrance of Bloomfields Subdivision in Tagaytay, another Robinsons Land development. The firm's six-hectare property in Tagaytay is across the highway from popular restaurant Josephine's. Go expects the construction of the Tagaytay shopping mall to be finished by in one year. The hotel, which he described as a four-star venture, will be completed in three years' time. The hotel will be managed by the Robinsons group. Go said half the number of rooms would be "service-type," with their own kitchens and work spaces. The rest would be traditional hotel rooms. With the new hotel, Robinsons Land plans to lure more tourists and corporate clients into Tagaytay. The hotel will also have a number of function rooms where companies can hold company gatherings. As for the mall, Go said the builders will maximize Tagaytay's climate and scenery by making the mall an open-air structure. "It's going to be an open-air development. You're in Tagaytay so you're not going to air-condition the mall," Go said. Go said the Tagaytay expansion is part of the firm's aggressive strategy to continue being one of the leaders in the real-estate development sector. "As a corporation, we want to build three malls a year, launch three condos a year, launch three subdivisions a year, build one hotel every year and build one office building a year," Go said. Robinsons Land is 60 percent-owned by J.G. Summit Holdings, the investment firm of tycoon John Gokongwei. J.G. Summit also has interests in food and beverage manufacturing, banking, and telecommunications. - GMANews.TV