At the recent opening of the 20-hectare Acienda Designer Outlet (ADO) in Silang, Cavite Mayor Emilia Poblete mused that “people used go to Tagaytay and just pass us by. We were just vast lands that went unnoticed. Today, we’re lucky to have investors who have gambled on the potential of Silang, supporting our initiatives, and allowing us to become a window for commercial and economic activities.”
SOUTHERN COMFORT. The 500-hectare South Forbes City continues to transform a once bucolic landscape of farms and woodlands.
The ‘mayora’ had reason to be upbeat. Fifteen years before developer, Cathay Land Inc., launched Acienda, it kicked off the 500-hectare South Forbes Golf City. Today, the master-planned community has grown to include world-class boutique pockets, commercial buildings, an 18-hole golf course, and two traveler’s accommodations: Microtel and Destination Hotel.
Bullish prospects
Cathay Land President Jeffrey Ng told the Manila Standard about his company’s other projects in Silang: Mallorca City, a low-cost housing community of 30 hectares, along with the Cavite Light Industrial Park (CLIP) which is set to expand to 60 hectares by the end of the year.
CHECKING OUT THE BARGAINS. Silang Mayor Poblete and Cathay Land’s Ng at the inauguration of the Acienda Designer Outlet.
“In Barangay Puting Kahoy, you will find the last project by my father, the late Amb. John KC Ng, a satellite campus of the biggest Chinese school in Binondo. In two years’ time, Chiang Kai Shek University is set to open its doors, not only to the Tsinoy community, but more importantly to the residents of Silang and all the residents of Cavite province,” he vowed.
He likewise revealed that a 50-hectare area of Barangay Hukay will be developed by Alveo Land and Cathay Land to become a commercial and residential project called Hillside Ridge.
“We would like to see tourists coming not only to Tagaytay, but also to Silang as well,” he said. “With the expected completion of the interchange of the Cavite-Tagaytay-Batangas Expressway (CTBEX), whose exit will be right beside this outlet in three years’ time, we have no doubt that this area of Silang will continue to progress and boom in the years ahead.”
Jobs for locals
Freeport Retail co-founder and director Chris Milliken, who partnered with Ng to set up Acienda Designer Outlet, added that aside from tourism, where shoppers looking for real bargains will flock to ADO, the outlet center will create jobs.
“This will really boom and create about 800 jobs,” he said. “Because ADO presents what a proper outlet store is all about, with great planning, proposition, consumer experience, the future is bright for this business and for the community.”
Other new projects in the pipeline for Cathay Land in Silang include two low-rise residential condominium projects: Stanford Suites 3 and Fullerton Suites, in South Forbes Golf City. At Mallorca City, Mallorca Villas Phase 2 and the second phase of CLIP will be launched soon.
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