A P1.9-billion property in Quezon City, the most populous city in the Philippines, is the chosen location for Filipino billionaire, and chairman of Bloomberry Resorts Corp, Enrique Razon Jr.’s second casino in the Southeast Asian country.
Through Sureste Properties Inc. (SPI), a hotel and resort development arm of Bloomberry, the casino will be built on a 15,676-square meter of land acquired from the National Housing Authority (NHA) in 2015. Razon said construction will probably begin next year, and added, “It would be more similar to Solaire. There may be some mixed-use because there is no height restriction. There will be a casino,” as reported by The Philippine Star.
In 2013, Razon’s Solaire Resort and Casino was the first to open its doors in Manila’s Entertainment City gaming complex of regulator Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) in Parañaque City.
The P1.9-billion property is situated on Vertis North, Quezon City Central Business District, which is part of the Housing Authority’s partnership with Ayala Land Inc. (ALI). There, a 46-hectare Vertis North project is being developed by ALI. The property is bounded by three major roads, EDSA, Quezon Avenue and Agham Road. Quezon’s first central business district will consist mostly of commercial and office spaces with residential and retail components as well. In accordance with the Vertis North master plan, the Bloomberry subsidiary plans to develop the property for mixed use, which is subject to regulatory and local government approvals.
In October 2015, SPI received the Notice of Award from NHA. The company initially made a payment of P395.4 million, 20 percent of the P1.9 billion purchase price. SPI used internally generated funds to bankroll the purchase. While the property was scheduled by NHA to be part of a bidding process on August 7, 2015, because SPI was the sole bidder it was declared a failed bidding by NHA. The same process was repeated by NHA on August 28, and once again declared a failure because SPI was the only bidder.
Last Thursday, Razon warned that the opening of two additional gaming complexes within the next two years would produce an “oversupply” of casinos in the Manila Bay area and that the supply is growing at a faster rate than the market. By the end of this year, it’s expected that Japanese businessman Kazuo Okada will open Manila Bay Resorts, and Resorts World Bayshore is scheduled to open in 2018 in Manila’s Entertainment City gaming complex.
The company’s first international expansion, Bloomberry also operates the Jeju Sun Hotel and Casino in South Korea and has proposed an integrated resort in Argentina.