CAGAYAN de Oro will soon be bustling with more exciting activities with the entry of an Ayala mall here. The mall will be constructed along CM Recto and Corrales avenues in what used to be Cebu Southern Motors Corporation. The site itself is eight hectares wide. This property is owned by the Floirendos.

This development really poses a serious threat to the Gaisanos, with Gaisano City Mall located only a stone’s throw away. As everybody knows, the Gaisanos along with local Chinese entrepreneurs here, have strongly opposed to SM putting up a mall in the said property because of this obvious threat.

But the Ayala Group wasn’t to be intimidated and pushed for its plan to put up the mall. They enlisted Creba (who enjoys support from realty bigwig Sen. Manuel Villar) to lobby for an Ayala mall entry here exactly in front of Gaisano City Mall.

The mall is expected to cost P4.5 billion which means it will cost more than the currently-constructed AyalaDavao’s P3 billion worth of mall. See, the Ayalas were really challenged with the situation in Cagayan de Oro City because they felt that the local Chinese businessmen here such as the Gaisanos have monopolized this kind of business for a long time and even succeeded in stopping SM from putting up their own business in downtown Cagayan de Oro.

ONE of the results of the recent Chamber of Real Estate Builders Association (Creba) convention held here was knowing one inspiring thing – that A. Brown Company, the developer of Xavier Estates, is serious in its corporate social responsibility (CSR).

It was revealed that the Phase 5 development at Xavier Estates located along Masterson highway in going to the airport in uptown Cagayan de Oro yielded Huluga archaeological artifacts. And because of the new discovery, the CEO of A. Brown Company, Walter Brown himself, ordered that all earthworks at the site be stopped so that all artifacts could be unearthed and claimed by the National Museum.

And because logistics and funding for the diggings are not yet in place, the actual digging will be held at the later part of this year. Because of this development, Walter Brown has to recalendar the Xavier Estates Phase 5 development to next year. This is indeed one company worth emulating.

Creba holding its national convention in Cagayan de Oro every now and then has indeed its advantages aside from the expenses the delegates incur during their stay in hotels and loitering. Mayor Constantino Jaraula revealed that when the national convention was held here in 1994, one of the developers bought the Roa party in the western side of Masterson road. This is now what is known as Pueblo de Oro Township.