Skyline of Quezon City (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Taking an even more aggressive posture, property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is coughing up P65 billion over a 10-year period to develop Vertis North, a new urban, transit-oriented, mixed-use community within the North Triangle property in Quezon City, which is envisioned to be the country’s next premier central business district.
In a briefing yesterday, ALI president Antonino Aquino said the 29-hectare Vertis North will be the group’s biggest and most modern development in Quezon City seen to attract top locators in the area.
Vertis North, a joint venture between ALI and the state-run National Housing Authority, will have 45 towers, comprising a broad range of offices, residential and retail spaces and a hotel when completed.
Aquino said the group’s track record and strong branding will ensure that the development will achieve its highest potential value.
Encompassing 220,000 square meters of space, the first phase of Vertis North will require an investment of P12 billion over a three-year timeframe to construct office buldings catering to business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, a Kukun hotel, and a retail strip patterned after Bonifacio High Street within a seven-hectare lot.
“The aim is to create a new and dynamic urban area with a high quality of life. This is envisioned to be the gateway to the North given its connection to the commuter rail lines and major road arteries. We feel QC, being the largest city in area and population, deserves to have its own CBD,” Aquino said.
“Vertis North will be no different from what ALI has developed in the past. It would be like Makati - a large-scale mixed use development that is now the country’s central business district,” he added.
Vertis North is the culmination of a public bidding process initiated by the government on Oct. 3, 2008. The joint venture aims to benefit NHA in achieving its mandate of providing housing for informal settlers and transforming a non-performing asset into a model for urban renewal.
NHA, which contributed the land, expects to gain around P11 to P12 billion worth of housing investments through its partnership with ALI, partly helping them curb the huge housing backlog.
NHA general manager Chito Cruz said that of the 10,000 families squatting in the area, the number has been reduced to around 3,500. He is hopeful he can relocate the remaining informal settlers by September this year.
Aquino said ALI, which pioneered the establishment of integrated business hubs like the Makati central business district and Bonifacio Global City, wants to put up an intermodal transport terminal facility at Vertis North to further stimulate growth in the area.
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