First-ever ‘green’ mall in Bacolod City to rise in 2021

BACOLOD CITY — Property giant Megaworld Corp. is targeting the completion of The Upper East Mall, the first-ever “green” mall in this city, by 2021.

The three-level lifestyle mall, with a project cost of PHP1.2 billion, will rise inside the 34-hectare The Upper East township, a PHP28-billion master-planned development located in the eastern side of Bacolod.

The mall’s design was unveiled by Kevin Tan, chief strategy officer of Megaworld, and design architect Raji Casas in a press conference held at L’Fisher Hotel on Friday.

“We are building not just an ordinary mall. We are curating an architectural masterpiece that depicts the cosmopolitan vibe of our Bacolod township,” Tan said of the mall’s blend of neo-classical and art deco architecture.

The Upper East Mall, which will be managed and operated by Megaworld Lifestyle Malls, will have sustainable features such as solar panel roofing and energy-efficiency features such as perceived air-conditioning cooling design; escalators with crawling features; rainwater harvesting system where the rainwater is recycled for plant watering; and a gray water recycling system, wherein the water discharged from the sewage treatment plant is collected and used for secondary flushing of the mall’s toilets and urinals.

Spanning 24,200 square meters, the mall will partly house rows of restaurants facing a garden of century-old trees surrounded by Koi ponds, as well as four state-of-the-art cinemas and an open food hall with an indoor garden.

Engr. Dick Montes, head of mall operations and technical services group of Megaworld, said about 30 percent of the mall’s power requirement will be sourced from solar energy.

“This will be a grid-type technology so during peak hours of the mall’s operations, part of (the energy requirement) will come from solar power,” he added.

The Upper East Mall, poised to become an architectural landmark in Bacolod, will be highlighted by a 48-meter high clock tower that illuminates at night along the six-lane main avenue of the township, stretching from Lopez Jaena Street to Circumferential Road.

In Negros Occidental, Megaworld is investing a total of PHP35 billion, the biggest so far by a property developer, for its two township developments located in Bacolod City and Talisay City.