CLARK FREEPORT — An executive of a property developer has cited this freeport as the second major office space market in the country now surpassing Cebu.
Clark Global City (CGC) chief investment officer Evan McBride cited recent statistics from the Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC), ranking Clark as second among the preferred office locations in the country.
McBride made the comment during the Philippine Economic briefing here last week.
For the first time ever, in the brand new statistics just released by the Leechiu and Associates for real estate, Clark surpassed Cebu as top choice area for office space,” McBride said.
The economic briefing held at the newly-opened Clark Marriott Hotel, was organized by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in cooperation with Bases Conversion Development Authority, Clark Development Corp. and Clark International Airport Corp.
Among the presenters in the event were Udenna Corp. — which is now developing 177-hectare area here and Megawide Construction Corp. which is constructing Terminal 2 at the Clark International Airport which can accommodate eight million passengers per annum.
Clark surpassed Cebu which has been named as the country’s second major area in terms of office space market in the past ten years.
In the statistics provided by LPC, from January to September of this year, Clark reached 111,000 square meters of area for office space transaction, surpassing Cebu with 76,000 square meters for demanded office area. This represents eight percent of the overall transaction in the country.
Other locations that were included in the list were Iloilo, Cavite, Nueva Ecija, Davao and Rizal. Metro Manila was named the highest office market with 1.1 million square meters.
McBride also mentioned that the strategic location of Clark with its connectivity and infrastructure makes it an ideal business location.
“It has an efficient connectivity, it’s in the heart of the country’s highway system touching the SCTEx with its own exit from the SCTEx. It is 148 meters above sea level, protected from typhoons by Sierra Madre and Zambales mountain ranges and not on any fault lines,” McBride said.
Meanwhile, other upcoming projects in Clark were mentioned during the briefing. CDC asst. vice president for business development Rodem Perez said the state-owned firm supports the government’s programs by strengthening “connectivity” in the freeport.
In the same way, CIAC vice president Darwin Cunanan reported that the airport now has a total of 18 domestic destinations with 261 flight per week and nine international destinations with 162 international flights per week.
BCDA president and CEO Vivencio “Vince” Dizon with top-executives from private-sectors also shared some updates on the development of New Clark City and the other projects under the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ program.
