Araneta Properties Inc., the listed company of businessman Gregorio Araneta, plans to develop a 140-hectare property in Caloocan City into a central business district, a top executive said over the weekend.
Araneta Properties chairman Gregorio Araneta III said the company’s property in Caloocan was a very good site for a business district because of the development of Metro Rail Transit Line 7 in the northern part of Metro Manila.
“That would be my central business district because currently there is no central business district in Caloocan. It will be the best township development,” Araneta said.
The company plans to start developing the property in the next two years or once MRT 7 is completed, he said.
The property firm is reviewing its funding options to finance the development of the project.
The Caloocan property is one the big pieces of land that Araneta plans to consolidate under his listed property firm. Aside from the Caloocan property, Araneta also consolidates additional properties in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan under the listed entity.
Araneta Properties is developing a 340-hectare property in Bulacan called Colinas Verdas in joint venture partnership with Sta. Lucia Inc.
It also teamed up with Ayala Land for the development of the 120-hectare Altarazza Town Center also in Bulacan.
Ayala Land earlier said it would spend P6.8 billion over the next five years to develop Altarazza, a mixed-use development with a residential component, a shopping mall, a hospital, a school and office buildings for business process outsourcing companies.
Araneta said the land value of its properties in Bulacan significantly increased over the past few years as property developers like Ayala Land, SM Prime Holdings Inc. and Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. started developing malls and residential projects in the province.
Araneta said the development of MRT 7 was expected to further increase the cost of land in the area.
MRT 7, a project of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., will link North Avenue in Quezon City to San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan via a 22-kilometer elevated railway that is expected to serve 500,000 riders a day.
San Miguel is also building a 22-km, six-lane highway that will link San Jose Del Monte to the Balagtas Interchange of the North Luzon Expressway.
