If you build it, they will come north of Manila.
The convenience of transport made possible by the improved North
Luzon Expressway (NLEx), the scenic Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway
(SCTEx) and the planned expansion of the Clark International Airport
(formerly Diosdado Macapagal International Airport) has been largely
responsible for jumpstarting property developments and attracting local
and foreign investments in Central Luzon northward.
For the past couple of years, local property giants have staked
their claims in this wide 21,470-square-kilometer swath of land that
encompasses seven provinces (Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija,
Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales). Examples are Ayala Land’s Marquee
Residences in Angeles, Pampanga; Robinsons Land’s nine housing
developments in Pampanga, Tarlac and select locations in Northern Luzon
(Ilocos Norte and Laoag City); and Ayala Land Premier’s Anvaya Cove in
Morong, Bataan.
Foreign investors have also been eyeing the Central and Northern
Luzon regions, according to property consultant CB Richard Ellis. The
firm said investors were particularly focused on the Clark and Subic
Freeport Zones, and on strategic locations in the Northern Luzon Urban
Beltway (NLUB). In the pipeline for the region are mixed-use
developments, an aeropark, a business park, hospitals, leisure tourism
estates, condominiums, golf courses, an ecopark, an international school
and a shopping arcade.
CBRE’s “The Central Luzon Market” report,
furnished to Inquirer Property last week, indicated that the NLUB has
been “transforming its landscape into a high potential investment
destination” and that this has been “brought about by infrastructure
developments that paved way to increased economic activity in Central
Luzon as businesses started expanding from Metro Manila to its
peripheries.”
The key project that the region’s
development hinges on, according to CBRE, is the Clark International
Airport, which was built in 2008 and is up for significant expansion.
CIA has been “envisioned to be the primary international gateway of the
country, with the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) already
operating at maximum capacity,” said the report.
CBRE added that CIA is expected to increase
its passenger capacity to more than 2 million annually. The government
is studying the possibility of maintaining the two main airports (CIA
and Naia) side by side, or just designating CIA as the country’s main
airport.
“Anticipating these developments, investors
are now pouring in multiple high-value investments in Clark and Subic
Freeport Zones and in other areas of the NLUB,” the report said.
CBRE cited as an example Clark’s upcoming
Global Gateway Logistics City, a 177-hectare mixed-use development
composed of a logistics park, an aeropark, a business park and a
neighborhood town center. Once completed, the development will also
feature a 150-bed tertiary hospital, which will be leased, equipped and
operated by The Medical City starting this year.
Donggwang Clark Corp., a South Korean firm,
has likewise started construction of its 304-hectare leisure tourism
estate. Its three-tower condominium complex was turned over in 2012, and
the construction of its 36-hole golf course and clubhouse has
commenced.
Other projects to be developed within the
complex include a water park, spa and gymnasium, ecopark, business
center, specialty stores and function rooms, an international school, a
golf academy and driving range, a clinic and drugstore, a hotel, casino,
a 500-unit villa complex and a shopping arcade.
The rapid property developments have
resulted in Central Luzon’s prominent economic standing. The CBRE report
said: “Central Luzon is now the third biggest contributor to the
national economy with 9.1-percent share of the GDP in 2010. In 2011, the
region posted the highest Gross Regional Domestic Product growth in the
country at 11.9 percent, higher than the National Capital Region (7.5
percent) and Calabarzon (5.6 percent).”
It added: “The labor pool is one of the
region’s core competencies. A total of 56,800 tertiary graduates were
recorded in 2012, making it the second largest source of labor next to
NCR.”
source: Philippine Daily Inquirer
