MANILA, Philippines—The Glorietta in Makati today is a picture of buzzing activity, a welcome change from the grief that haunted its stalls a year ago.

Ayala Land Inc., one of the country’s largest real estate developers and the owner-operator of Glorietta said it has made inroads in overcoming the stigma of the October 19 blast that killed 11 people injured hundreds last year.

In fact, the redevelopment of the whole Glorietta complex is underway and it includes a makeover of the old Glorietta mall.

ALI president Jaime Ayala, in a emailed response to Philippine Daily Inquirer, said part of the process is to demolish the old Glorietta 1 and 2 sections of the mall complex as well as “Goldcrest”, the flea market area, to make way for “a brand new, mixed-use development that will consist of fresh flagship stores and updated concepts from the mall's existing Glorietta 1 and 2 merchants.”

“If you remember Glorietta before, it was several different buildings and we put one roof over it. That's why Glorietta 4 has four floors and Glorietta 1 has one floor. It didn't really connect. So the main thrust of the redevelopment is to integrate everything into one mall so it will feel just like one mall,” Ayala said in an earlier interview.

Ayala also said the new Glorietta mall will include cutting-edge office spaces and a new businessman's hotel. The retail area in the middle will also link up with Glorietta 3 and 4, creating a new activity center, a ground level interior boulevard and a spacious activity-filled roof deck.

Today there is only one hotel.

“Once completed, Glorietta will reinforce its position as the premier shopping destination in the country,” Ayala said.

As part of the redevelopment, ALI is constructing the fifth Glorietta building or Glorietta 5, an eight-level structure at the old parking lot occupying the space in front of Hotel Intercontinental Manila and beside Rustan’s mall. Glorietta 5 is slated to open in time for the Christmas season this year.

Three floors of Glorietta 5 will have retail spaces spanning around 9,500 square meters, and the other five floors will have office spaces that may cater to business process outsourcing (BPO) firms.

Some of the tenants displaced by the closure of the damaged Glorietta 2 are given the option to transfer to other Ayala mall sites, including Glorietta 5, officials earlier said.

“We have already moved most of the Glorietta 1 tenants to Glorietta 5 which is under construction. Once we move them (all) over there, we can already start with G1 and G2,” Ayala said.

To further enhance the makeover of the Glorietta Center, ALI has teamed up with Dubai-based Kingdom Hotel Investments, a Saudi-owned hotel and resort management company, to develop a 7,377-square-meter lot at the corner of Makati Avenue and Arnaiz Avenue into a luxury hotel complex.



The development, which will cost roughly $153 million, will comprise a 300-room Fairmont Hotel, a 30-suite Raffles Hotel, and 189 Raffles-branded private residences.