Century Properties opens flagship mall

MANILA, Philippines - Century Properties Group Inc. has jumpstarted its diversification into other income channels with the formal opening of Century City Mall, its flagship retail development expected to generate P100 million in annual income for the group.

Among its future projects will feature retail component of various sizes, in line with the company’s plans to beef up its recurring income portfolio in the medium term, a top executive said.

“[Century City Mall] mall should generate P100 million annually once it’s stabilized,” said Century Properties co-chief operating officer Jose Marco Antonio.

The boutique shopping mall targets the AB market, allowing the property firm to secure P250 million in additional yearly revenues, Antonio said.

Century Properties formally opened yesterday the P1.4-billion Century City Mall, the company’s first retail project located in the masterplanned Century City in Kalayaan Avenue, Makati. It is also the newest mall to open in the country’s financial center in almost 10 years.

The five-story mall has a gross floor area of 50,000 square meters (sqm) and 17,000 sqm of net leasable space.

Century City Mall general manager Graham Coates said there are 68 stores already in operation while 20 more shops will open next month. In every brand, there is a slight twist in terms of brands or merchandise sold, Coates said.

In total, 110 retail establishments will operate in the shopping mall, 65 percent of which are non-food, with rent at P900-1,000 per sqm.

Tenants include Rustan’s Supermarket; fashion and beauty stores Desigual, Fresh/H20, Beauty Bar, Hush Puppies, Philip Stein, Swarovski and Victorinox; and food and dining establishments Azurro Bistro and Restaurant, Early Bird Breakfast Club, Pepper Lunch, Starbucks Coffee, TWG Tea, Mochi Sweets and popular US burger joint CaliBurger.

Century City Mall also has four fully-digital projection cinemas: three high-end cinemas equipped with 5.1 Dolby surround sound systems and one premiere cinema with 60 fully-automated leather seats and a 7.1 Dolby Atmos surround sound system.

“All our future projects will have a retail component in various sizes. We will have a retail strip and mall format depending on the location,” Antonio said.

“We might be able to triple the recurring income component just from Century City,” he said, adding that recurring income from the office and commercial segment will account for 15 percent of total earnings in the medium term from the current three percent.

Specifically, the company is creating new office space in Century Spire, Forbes Media Tower and a building in Bonifacio Global City.

“For every major landbank project we have, we’re making a conscious decision to inject recurring income components to the property,” Antonio said.

The property firm will launch at least P17 billion worth of new projects this year while completing the construction of existing developments.

Last year, the company’s net income grew 12 percent in nine months to P1.6 billion, while consolidated revenues rose 12 percent to P8.1 billion.