Transport plan seen as key to Market! Market! renewal — BCDA

ORIGINAL LOCATOR Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) is in talks to redevelop the Market! Market! site at Bonifacio Global City (BGC), with the lease renewal to depend largely on the attractiveness of its transport amenities, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) said.

“We are discussing the arrangement for Market! Market!” with ALI, BCDA President and Chief Executive Officer Joshua M. Bingcang told reporters last week. “We are appreciative of their project with us; they were the first-mover locator in BGC.”

“They are cooperative in terms of commercial arrangements … We are just finalizing,” he added.

“In the contract, one year before it ends, you should finalize the renewal … it is a possibility that we will renew them depending on the phasing plan of the transit-oriented development project,” he said.

The Market! Market! site was leased to Ayala Land until 2027.

The centrality of transport arrangements is the result of Market! Market! being near a subway stop, he said.

The BCDA tapped the Japan International Cooperation Agency to do a transit-oriented development plan for the Market! Market! site, on the assumption that a subway stop will be built nearby.

“We want to maximize and fully utilize the potential and use of that area … But I think no single developer can (handle) that transit-oriented development project,” he said.

“Nakikita ko ngayon (What I foresee is) two or three developers so there is competition. And we are glad that Ayala Land has stepped forward to say that it wants to be part of the redevelopment,” he added.

“We will really issue a request for expression of interest. The Japanese are very much interested, especially since they have good experience in Uptown with Federal Land,” he said.

“So, we can have Federal Land, as well as the other big developers,” he added.

Meanwhile, he said that the BCDA has signed an agreement with the Department of Transportation on the right of way for the subway project.

“Anytime soon, they will be announcing the start of construction for three stations in BGC — at  Market! Market!, the Senate Building, and Uptown,” he added — Justine Irish D. Tabile