A CONTINUOUSLY expanding business-process outsourcing (BPO) sector has fueled the growth of seven key business districts in Metro Manila and is still driving the creation of new ones close to heavily populated residential areas.

Launched by the Vista Group, the proposed Vista Alabang business hub along the Daang Hari corridor in Southern Metro Manila is hosting its first office building to be completed in the second half of 2017.

Sheila Lobien, regional director and head of leasing for global real-estate services firm JLL, which is exclusively marketing the office tower with seven floors, said great interest has been generated by VistaHub Molino Building since access to the area was vastly improved by the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway (MCX).

The 4-kilometer long toll road links Daang Hari and the rest of Cavite to the Muntinlupa portion of the Southern Luzon Expressway. Vista Land said this location has been masterplanned as a hub for BPOs and other growing firms.

She said BPOs and other players in the outsourcing industry continue to grow at 18 percent to 19 percent year-on-year.
“Once they have 5,000 seats in the bigger business districts, they are likely to locate their expansion offices out of town or where they can easily hire more agents,” she said.

The interest in VistaHub Molino, the first office building in a proposed BPO hub, is generated by its location at the gateway of Cavite’s dense residential areas. It is one or two rides away from the homes of a young labor pool that has been subjected to two to three hours of travel to work and who would welcome daily traveling a shorter distance. At the same time, Daang Hari is also accessible from Las Piñas, Muntinlupa and Parañaque that also host significant working-age populations.

Lobien said BPOs have also been setting up locations in the provinces in the so-called Next Wave Cities. However, power outages due to unmet demand for electricity have dampened their interest in a number of these cities. Meanwhile, all the business districts of Metro Manila have been growing.

“There’s a lot of confidence in the market. All the major developers are expanding their geographic reach. Even high net worth individuals have been investing in the office sector attracted by the recurring income they can enjoy for the lifetime of a building,” she said.

Previously focused on affordable homes and more recently, high-end residential towers, Vista Land through Masterpiece Asia Properties Inc. has also ventured into offices and other commercial properties. These include a number of offices that also carry the Vista Hub brand in BGC, Las Pinas, Bataan, Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong and Taguig.

Like the other towers that carry the name, VistaHub Molino has been designed to meet the needs of BPOs through a sufficient number of lifts to facilitate the quick ingress and egress of employees, redundancy in power supply and large floor plates. The typical floor plate in the building with four lifts is 2,583.7.

It is also a short stroll away from an All Home center and all its retail and dining options, which will most likely heighten the attractions all the more of this new Daang Hari workplace for its young workforce.

27 October 2016