Premium office projects promote Cebu as BPO hub
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, and internet giant Google are among the dominant global players that have assigned critical business operations to Cebu City and have made it a preferred business destination.
In anticipation of more multinational firms setting up shop in the Queen City of the South, developers have constructed world-class office towers like the 24-story Latitude Corporate Center at the Cebu Business Park.
The office project by Cebu Landmasters Inc., a major player in the Cebu residential market that has since expanded to mixed-use and other projects in key Vis-Min cities, will be ready for occupancy by the end of 2019. It is also PEZA accredited.
According to Phillip Anonuevo, executive director of real estate services firm Leechiu Property Consultants, Cebu City’s talent pool and proximity to the cities of Bohol and Dumaguete which also turn out top graduates, have made it a hot spot for the shared services units of multinationals.
Another US firm recently opened a
Cebu office with over 500 workers doing clinical process outsourcing.
Occupiers at the higher end of the BPO chain, said Mikko Barranda, LPC associate director, have expressed interest in premium office buildings like Latitude with green, energy-efficient features and its own retail spaces centered around a plaza designed as a sanctuary for trees.
“Latitude represents a new generation of office buildings in Cebu more attune to the needs of global clients,” he said.
Executives from Leechiu Property Consultants, the exclusive agents of the building, point out that Latitude’s key feature includes large floor plates of 2,200 sqm sought after by BPOs. Latitude, a joint venture between CLI and Borromeo Brothers, is built on two adjacent Cebu Business Park lots.
Moreover, the building has been designed to appeal not just to BPOs but also to entrepreneurs and large multinational and local firms to create synergies among these occupiers, points out Bobby Apas, LPC manager based in Cebu.
The main ground floor lobby with high-end finishes and retail spaces has elevators that lead to the 14th to the 16th floors designed for enterprises and the executive offices from 17th to the 24th floors. Both the 14th and 17th floors have roofdeck gardens that allow employees a breath of fresh air.
At the second level are more retail spaces and a lobby with elevators that lead to the BPO-ready floors on the eighth to 12th floors. Each of the two lobbies is dedicated to employees working on the same time zones – those on standard Philippine time and those on night shifts dealing with clients in other time zones. The third to the seventh floors are parking levels.
All occupiers will enjoy the central location of Latitude close to Ayala Center Cebu; its 500 food and retail outlets; transport terminals leading to the Cebu metropolis’ main residential and other commercial areas; and Seda hotel.
“Latitude is proof of Cebu’s resurgence as a BPO hub, a center of enterprise and the growing Philippine economy as a whole,” Barranda concluded.