Group breaks ground on new office building in IT Park

By Katlene O. Cacho

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

ENCOURAGED by the market response to eBloc Towers 1 and 2, Ayala-led Cebu Property Ventures and Development Inc. (CPVDC) and Asian i-Office Properties Inc. (AIO) yesterday broke ground to start construction of eBloc 3 in the Cebu IT Park.

AyalaLand Inc. president Antonino Aquino said the construction of another office-space building is another “great sign of progress” of the company and its confidence in Cebu’s economy.

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He said ALI has been pouring in P3 billion investments every year to accelerate developments of Cebu Park District.

Preferred destination

“The construction of the eBloc 3 is a manifestation of our strong commitment in making Cebu IT Park a preferred BPO/IT destination in the country,” Aquino said.

The eBloc 3 is a 12-storey office building with a total of 15,764 square meters leasable area. Tower 3 is the third installment to the eBloc Towers, which are built as locations for BPOs, information technology and information technology-enabled services business locators.

The eBloc Towers are projects of AIO, a partnership between ALI and CPVDC. The company will be investing P1 billion for the construction, which is expected to be completed in two years.

CPVDC and Cebu Holdings Inc. president Francis Monera said it is the quick take-up of spaces of Towers 1 and 2 that prompted them to launch another office building.

“The demand for office spaces is growing,” he said.

CPVDC and AIO constructed eBloc 1, which now houses J.P Morgan Chase and Co. and NCR Philippines. After that, they built eBloc 2, which is still under construction but is already 80 percent leased to BPO-IT companies with growing operations.

Monera said the building of eBloc 3 is to strengthen the company’s commitment in pushing Cebu’s BPO potential, given its recognition as an emerged BPO destination. He said they also want Cebu to attract higher value services which prompted them to accelerate developments at Cebu IT Park.

Employment

The construction of the third tower is seen to increase employment at Cebu IT Park by 20 percent this year.

Meanwhile, Aquino and Monera dismissed fears that a pending US bill to discourage outsourcing will hurt the BPO industry. Monera believes the US companies themselves will lobby against the proposal.

“Outsourcing is a business strategy practiced also by local companies, whereby you outsource your non-core competencies. It is a strategy to be competitive in the global market and one key element of competitiveness is reducing cost. Outsourcing reduces a lot of cost,” Monera said.

Aside from the construction of eBloc 3, Aquino announced more developments to take place in Cebu Business Park and Cebu IT Park. The remaining P2 billion investments will be used for the construction of Avida 3 and some expansion of residential projects at CBP.

“We expect some expansion of our residential brands sometime this year,” Aquino said.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on February 02, 2012.