The Orchard: A Community Place redefining leisure and lifestyle al fresco style. Photo by Bong Lacson
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Redefining leisure and lifestyle al fresco in an urbanized environment, Orchard: A Community Place officially opened here over the weekend.
What was once a private property owned by the Lazatins of this city, Orchard is now developed into a community place for better leisure and shopping experience, especially in these pandemic times.
The ribbon cutting ceremony and formal blessing was led by brothers Vice Mayor Jimmy Lazatin and Jose T. Lazatin together with the Lazatin and Magat families.
To kick start its soft opening, Orchard is currently holding a holiday weekend bazaar dubbed “A Community Christmas Market” with a total of 32 local merchants from native delicacies, breads and pastries, meat products, plants and seedlings, crafts, trinkets, retail, and many more.
According to Orchard shareholder and manager JP Lazatin, they want to bring back the moment in time of doing leisure activities in an open-air space to emphasize and maximize its garden-like setting and share its vast space for everyone to continue creating memories.
“This place used to be a big farm. My dad used to tell me stories about him running around here playing with his siblings and cousins. He used to tell me how happy they were playing here,” JP shared.
“And now, we want to bring that back. With all the technologies, everybody’s busy with their gadgets or in the malls, there’s no outdoor experience. The design is shaped like a house because we want to bring back where you feel like it’s home and keep it as open as possible because we believe that’s what is missing right now, the open-air space which is exactly what we need,” JP added.
Designed by Arch. Andro L. Magat of Studiokama in collaboration with Archispace Design Co., Orchard is intended to bring back the setting reminiscent of a home shared in one community. With 16 units from restaurants, a meat store, and the city’s first drive-thru drug store, Orchard focuses on the need to adapt into the current situation as well as the post-pandemic.
According to Orchard shareholder and officer-in-charge Jonathan Lazatin, the Orchard is also designed to accommodate as much as 3000 persons per day and is equipped with a state-of-the-art water recycling system to water the greenery surrounding the area. Jonathan also noted that the first building is the phase one of the development as they are planning to put up multiple buildings to cater to other national brands among others.
“We currently have 16 units and land leases around the property. This building is just phase one of the development but there will be multiple buildings around the area,” Jonathan said.
“We will also have the first ever drive-thru drug store as we are focusing on what people want and need nowadays eliminating the need for social contact,” Jonathan added. “We are still developing the property as we continue to plan for next year.”
