By Arra B. Francia, Reporter
DOUBLEDRAGON Properties Corp. officially opened on Monday its flagship office and retail project, which has been seeing strong demand from Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) due to its location in the Bay Area.
Called the DoubleDragon Plaza, the 11-storey project offers 130,000-square meter (sq.m.) of leasable office space and an additional 12,000 sq.m. of retail space on the ground floor. The project is located at the corner of Macapagal Avenue and EDSA Extension along the Bay Area in Pasay City.
DoubleDragon said it has already leased out 97% of the office hub to a mix of corporate, business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, and POGOs. Around 60% of the tenants are POGOs, according to DoubleDragon Chief Investment Officer Marianna H. Yulo.
“We have a mix of tenants. We have a lot of corporate here, we have some POGOs and BPOs. We have 60% for POGOs, so that’s about 70,000 or 80,000 sq.m. for POGOs,” Ms. Yulo told reporters on the sidelines of the project’s inauguration in Pasay City yesterday.
Real estate consultants have been reporting higher demand for office spaces from POGOs at the Bay Area, as the warming relations between China and the Philippines prompted gaming firms to expand in the country.
Ms. Yulo said leasing rates at the DoubleDragon Plaza are currently at P860 per sq.m., higher than their initial projection when the office was just being constructed.
“When we started this project in 2015, we were projecting lease rates this year at about P600 to P650 and we’re already able to achieve P860. So that’s quite a bit of yield that’s unexpected, but we’re very happy about it,” Ms. Yulo said.
DoubleDragon Plaza is the first phase of DoubleDragon’s 4.75-hectare DD Meridian Park in Bay Area. The company is currently completing two more office towers called DoubleDragon Center East and West with a gross leasable space of 30,000 sq.m., set to be finished within the year.
The DoubleDragon Tower, a premium Grade A office building, will be part of the third phase of development, while the DD-Ascott Meridian Park will be opened for the fourth phase. The luxury serviced apartment operated by Ascott will occupy a 5,567-sq.m. lot, and will offer more than 300 units.
By the end of its development in 2020, DD Meridian Park will have a total gross leasable area (GLA) of 280,000 sq.m.
Ms. Yulo noted, however, that DoubleDragon’s leasable spaces are still primarily in second and third tier cities in the country, citing the company’s vision of developing 100 CityMalls by 2020.
“Most of our leasable space will still come from CityMalls, because we’re building 100 CityMalls that’s going to give us 700,000 sq.m. of leasable space by 2020. This is just our flagship project in Metro Manila, but majority of our projects are still in second and third tier cities,” the DoubleDragon executive said.
DoubleDragon booked a consolidated net income of P2.53 billion in 2017, 71.8% higher year on year, while recurring revenues stood at P1.31 billion.
Shares in DoubleDragon gained 25 centavos or 0.82% to close at P30.75 each at the stock exchange on Monday.

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