DougleDragon Corp. opens CityMall-Surigao

DoubleDragon Corporation has opened CityMall-Surigao in Surigao City, Surigao del Norte in  the  Mindanao  region  —  its  45th  operational  mall  nationwide,  officially  making  it  the  No.4  largest  mall developer  and  landlord  in  terms  of  number  of  operational  malls  and  specifically  in  the  community  mall segment,  is  currently  the  No.1  largest  community  mall  developer  and  landlord  in  terms  of  number  of operating community malls in the Philippines.

The current CityMall’s GFA forms part of the 1.29 million square meters of fully built and completed GFA in DoubleDragon’s diversified portfolio exceeding its 1 million square meters total GFA target by 2020 set and announced during its IPO listing in the PSE last April 2014, at which point it had practically Zero leasable space.

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CityMall-Surigao has a total GFA of 8,608 square meters that sits in a 1.05-hectare plot of prime commercial land. The then-vacant land right beside the Surigao City Integrated Land Transport Terminal was purchased for land banking way back 2015 and forms part of the string of over 100 prime land spread out across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao that DoubleDragon acquired mostly from 2014 to 2016, when prime land prices was still mostly less than one-fourth of the land prices today.

CityMall-Surigao’s  locator/tenant  mix  includes  a  full-size  MerryMart  Grocery,  Jollibee,  Chowking,  Mang Inasal,   Greenwich,   Highlands   Coffee,   MerryMart   Pharmacy   powered   by   Carlos   Superdrug,   ALLWin Department Store, Fun Nation, PrimeHub, Vazcon Salon,   Potato  Corner, JM Shawarma, Party Toppers by Surigao Toopers, Keisha’s Jewelry, Master Siomai, Tori’s Buco, Redd’s Mango, RRJ, Petrol, Mr. Lee, Bobson, FreeLife,  RELX  and  Elixir  Store,  Car-San  Auto,  Anchiko  Cakes  &  Pastry  Shop,  DTI  Go  Negosyo,  Chef  Mike Japanese Cuisine booth, JYG Food Enterprises, Yesha’s Kwek Streetfood Cart, DO Marketing, Lemon District, Samantha’s Steamboat and MisterDonut.

After the opening of CityMall-Surigao, three more CityMalls are slated to be completed in the fourth quarter this year 2023 namely CityMall-Bay Laguna, CityMall-Palo Leyte, and CityMall-Antique. For
next year 2024, a total of 4 more CityMalls are set to open namely CityMall-Gen Trias Cavite, CityMall-Guiwan Zamboanga, CityMall-Ormoc and CityMall-Ozamiz that would make DoubleDragon increase its operational mall portfolio to 52 by the end of 2024.

DoubleDragon’s current 45-mall network which are now all operational to date was constructed and opened from the first CityMall in 2015 to the 45th operating mall in a span of only 8 years as of July 28, 2023. The 45 mall openings in 8 years include the over two years of Covid19 pandemic.

The  CityMalls  that  were  opened  before  the  Covid19  pandemic  are  now  in  batches,  undergoing  refresh makeover since early this year and to be completed by the end of this year in line with the goal of making the CityMalls in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao reach maturity level and attain the optimal above-industry rental yields by 2025.

CityMall’s occupancy level post-Covid19 pandemic has steadily increased and is expected to reach 100% by end of 2024, driven by the continued transition from traditional retail to modern retail in
the countryside.

“Within  the  first  three  years  of  DoubleDragon’s  IPO  in  the  Philippine  Stock  Exchange  last  April  2014,  we purposely  and  rapidly acquired majority  of  the  Company’s  landbank  for  CityMall when  land prices in city centers of prime provincial cities were still low. Today, we have seen exponential
value appreciation across the  string  of  prime  commercial  properties  which  our  DD  team  are  thankful  to  have  acquired  a  string  of hundreds of prime assets across the country early on,” said DoubleDragon chairman Edgar “Injap” Sia II.

“We see building structures for the recurring revenue business like fruit-bearing trees, where the buildings are like the tree, and the recurring income that eventually follows are like the fruits that keep coming for many decades. And while they produce the fruits year on year, the property like the bark of the tree also becomes more and more valuable,” added Mr. Sia.

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The article was originally published in Manila Bulletin.

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