CENTRAL Bloc + SEDA Hotel opens in Cebu IT Park in 2020

CENTRAL Bloc, a fast rising mixed-use development within Cebu IT Park, is on track to open this year, an official of listed company Cebu Holdings Inc. (CHI) said.

CHI president Aniceto Bisnar Jr. said they are scheduled to open the mall and the first of two office / BPO towers of Central Bloc by the fourth quarter of 2019 while another 214-room Seda Hotel will open in early 2020.

The Central Bloc development, according to Bisnar, will have 45,000 square meters (sq.m) of retail gross leasable area (GLA) and an office GLA of 72,000 sq.m. Once developments open in Central Bloc this year, Seagrove in 2020 and Gatewalk Central in 2021, CHI’s leasing portfolio will double to almost 530,000 sq.m.

“These developments, we hope, will demonstrate our commitment to help spread growth to more parts of Metro Cebu, and make a better quality of life available to our fellow citizens,” Bisnar said. CHI is allotting P4.2 billion in capital expenditures this year to finance existing projects. This figure, according to Bisnar, is the same as last year.

The Ayala-led company is also growing its footprint in the condominium space in Cebu. CHI launched the fourth tower of the Solinea development in Cebu Business Park and the South Tower of Amaia Steps in Mandaue City last year. It also launched The Flats, a dormitory space located in both Cebu Business Park and Cebu IT Park. Bisnar said in a few years, these will provide 852 rooms where workers in both estates can live more comfortably and within walking distance of their workplaces.

CHI chairperson Anna Ma. Margarita Dy said that while the company is going strong in expanding its leasing investments, they will continue to cement their position in all the businesses they are involved with.

CHI celebrated its 30th year in the business last year.

“To say that the last 30 years have been dramatic for the property sector is an understatement. These years, after all, included a global real estate boom that started at the dawn of a new century. But these years also saw the collapse of real estate values in many countries a mere decade ago. How Cebu Holdings responded to these developments is reflected in this book as well, as a way of showing how changes in the global and national economies transform the life of a city,” he added. 

(This post uses a portion of an article that originally appeared in SUN STAR CEBU)