Ayala slows down on BPO

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. is reviewing its planned business process outsourcing office projects in Davao City and Baguio City amid a slowdown in demand due to the financial meltdown.

Ayala Land chief finance officer Jaime Ysamel told reporters that the company would prioritize the construction of a shopping mall in Davao and defer the BPO component of the project until office demand started to improve.

Ayala Land forged a joint venture agreement with the Floirendo family of Davao in 2007 for the development of a nine-hectare property in the city.

The Floirendo project involves a 40,000-square meter retail development and a 20,000-sq. m. BPO component. The whole project is estimated to cost P2.3 billion.

Ysmael said the company had started excavation works for the shopping mall project, which is scheduled for completion over the next two years.

This would be the third shopping mall of Ayala group outside of Metro Manila. The two others are Ayala Center Cebu and the soon-to-be opened Q-Mall in Angeles, Pampanga.

Ayala Land is building the BPO component of the Angeles mall project in phases, depending on the demand.

Ayala Land is also reviewing the planned BPO project inside Camp John Hay in Baguio City.

Ayala Land had planned to develop 120,637 sq. m. of property inside the former US military recreational facility into a mixed-use project under a lease agreement reached with Fil-Estate-led Camp John Hay Development Corp. last year.

The Camp John Hay project involves the construction of six BPO buildings with about 4,000 sq. m. of office space and 7,000 sq. m. of retail space.

Ayala Land had also planned to construct a dormitory as part of the support facilities for the sole use of employees and agents working in the BPO buildings.

Ayala Land is currently constructing several BPO offices in the 38-hectare UP Science and Technology Park, 20-hectare BPO campus in Nuvali in Canlubang, San Lazaro Vertex in Manila and Cebu eBloc in Cebu.

It recently completed the construction of a five-story BPO building in front of Rustans department store and Hotel InterContinental in Makati.

Ysmael said the BPO building in Makati had been fully leased to Convergys. — Jenniffer B. Austria, Manila Standard Today