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[renzo_d10]

Never been to aura though, but basing on the image of renzo, it's the same concept...

trivia: may pinag gayahang mall din ang design na yan ng sm north annex at aura limot ko lang pangalan, mall singapore or hong kong ata yun.

I find the escalators annoying at both Annex and Aura. Unlike sa usual SM and Trinoma.

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[Monseratto]

COCKTALES | Ayala, SM rivalry leads to roadblock, regulatory capture - InterAksyon.com

COCKTALES | Ayala, SM rivalry leads to roadblock, regulatory capture
By: Victor C. Agustin
May 20, 2013 1:39 AM








InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

The Fort transmogrified into a gridlocked Makati on Friday and over into the weekend as the rivalry between developers SM and Ayala-government combine spilled over to a road blockade that marred the rushed opening of the SM Aura mall within the former military base.

The previously low-intensity conflict between the country's leading developers became public shortly before the elections when the Fort Bonifacio landlords, the triumvirate of BCDA-Ayala-Campos groups, closed the McKinley Parkway in a last ditch-effort to stop the mall opening.

Earlier, Taguig in behalf of SM sued BCDA and obtained a favorable court order -- you read it right: it is the two regulatory agencies, one local and the other national, that are suing each other in behalf of their private partners -- to continue paving the side road linking taipan Henry Sy's first high-end mall with the busy McKinley Parkway.

BCDA president Arnel Paciano Casanova, an Asia Society alumnus who has taken the cudgels for Ayala and Campos, is steaming not only with the backdoor entry of SM into their Fort fiefdom but also in SM having built a mall in what officially was supposed to be only a civic center for the Taguig city hall.

The SM's position, as fleshed out by City Hall, is that the Bases Conversion and Development Authority had relinquished all its rights, including zoning restrictions, when BCDA donated 40 hectares of the former military base to Taguig.

Out of that 40-hectare donation, Taguig subsequently carved out 3.5 hectares for a planned civic center adjoining C-5 and Serendra and in 2008 held an auction to pursue the plan, a bidding which SM won.

Locked out of the Fort since its privatization during the Ramos years, SM lost no time after winning the auction to build apparently unbeknownst to BCDA a retail center-cum-retail complex, lining the mall section with choice foreign tenants to compete with Ayala's High Street development just a few blocks away.

Atypical of SM, the new complex bore no large billboards and featured subdued signage; there was not a single neon light to beckon shoppers even in the run-up to last week's inauguration.

With the main McKinley Parkway still blockaded, Friday's traffic had backed up all the way to the already clogged McKinley Road in Forbes and on the side routes surrounding ironically Ayala's own Serendra complex.

This incidentally was not the first time that BCDA and SM had clashed. Earlier, SM sued BCDA for refusing to proceed with SM's unsolicited proposal for a 33-hectare Fort property bordering the South Luzon Expressway.

The McKinley blockade was still up during the weekend, with no word as to how long the thoroughfare would remain closed. Calls made to general manager Konstantine Ivan Daguio Jr. of the Bonifacio Estate Services Corp., the office which installed the potted plants in the middle of the road to block off the potential Forbes and Dasma customers from heading straight to SM Aura, went unanswered.

Because of the blockade, Forbes and Dasma residents who wish to spread their shopping money at the new mall had to literally inch through the Market! Market! intersection after taking a circuitous route or, alternatively, take a detour to C-5 via the now also crowded 32nd Street at the other end of Serendra, turning what could be a two-minute drive into an half-an-hour crawl.

Still, even with the blockade, SM in typical fashion pulled in wall-to-wall crowd on its first day of operations, never mind that half of the shops were still shuttered. The supermarket and the Jollibee outlet on the ground floor did a roaring business, with the customers spilling over to the hallways as a jazz band belted out through the din an incongruous Take the A Train number.

Despite being pilloried by pro-SM columnists, BCDA's Casanova would have had the last laugh for the day -- a large contingent of the first-day oglers came from the adjoining squatter community, not exactly the mall's intended market.

SM Aura even provided the unaccustomed visitors a crash course on modern hygiene, with many of the street kids marveling at the automatic flushing urinals and darting their hands within the hot-air hand dryers.

[shadow]

Aura is trying hard to be an upscale mall...


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[ZENMasterTYL]

high end shopping mall daw ang aura? weh, di nga

high end ang traffic pwede pa. maski sa loob ng parking, bwisit na traffic yan. 30 minutes bago makalabas, tapos mga 10 minutes na nakabitin kotse mo sa ramp.

[ZENMasterTYL]

I find the escalators annoying at both Annex and Aura. Unlike sa usual SM and Trinoma.

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trademark ng sm yan, yung escalator na walang continuity

[_Qwerty_]

and the plot thickens..

Sarah Jessica Parker inaugurated 'illegally' built SM mall, BCDA says - InterAksyon.com

Sarah Jessica Parker inaugurated 'illegally' built SM mall, BCDA says

MANILA - (UPDATED 9:35 p.m.) The newly inaugurated mall of the SM group at the Bonifacio Global City - the same commercial center graced by Hollywood fashion icon Sarah Jessica Parker last week - was "illegally" built, according to the state agency tasked to commercially develop the country's military bases.

Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), which owned the property where SM Aura Premier was built, said excavation for the property was done "without permission," adding that "a poorly built retaining wall is jeopardizing the lives of nearby residents."

“SM occupied the property forcibly after its request [to construct a road in front of the mall] was denied by the BCDA,” the agency's president Arnel Paciano D. Casanova said.

“Despite being denied a permit by the proper authorities, namely the BCDA, which owns the land in question, and Bonifacio Estate Services Corp (BESC), they still proceeded with utter impunity and disregard of the law. They have endangered the lives of many families living in the area in the process,” Paciano said.

BESC is in charge of the upkeep of BGC’s grounds.

Casanova said a community of families lives below the excavation area. In the absence of a proper retaining wall, the risk of injuries or even fatalities is very high, he said.

“The concern for residents’ well-being, as well as our ownership of the road, were reasons enough to disallow the excavation, but we must also point out that the construction of the whole SM Aura Premier was illegal in the first place, as that land was meant to be turned into a civic center in accordance with R.A. 7227, as amended by R.A. 7917,” Casanova said.

BCDA had donated to Taguig City the property where SM Aura was built for the construction of a civic center.

In a letter dated April 3 and sent to SM Prime Holdings Inc president Hans Sy, BCDA rejected the company's request to do roadwork in front of the mall, saying, “The proposed land uses are inconsistent with Section 8 (d) of Republic Act No. 7227, as amended, since the same is limited to ‘national government and local government centers, sports facilities and parks […]’”

SM Prime, however, proceeded with both the mall construction and the road excavation, prompting the BCDA to go to the excavation site on May 6 to stop the digging, the state agency said. It said the arrival of BCDA officials at the site resulted in a standoff with the contractor, with the latter showing an order to proceed from the Taguig City government, which had leased the land to SM.

But BCDA had a cease and desist letter of its own addressed to Sy, saying, “While it is true that you are holding a general authorization and clearance to construct from the City of Taguig, the same does not grant you authority to construct on BCDA properties […] endangering the lives and properties of the residents below the area without a retaining wall.”

Casanova said BCDA was fully within its rights and bound by law to stop the excavation of the road, rebutting complaints that the BCDA had unfairly blocked the road to motorists as the road had not been open to begin with.

“That road has not been completed yet—it has no street lights, road signs and traffic lights, so it is not fit for public use until it is finished. The road has never been opened, so why are they accusing us now of suddenly blocking it?” said Casanova.

“We want businesses to flourish in Global City, but these enterprises must be built on trust, transparency and obedience to the rule of the law. And in this case, the use of the land is in clear violation of the law. So is it right to say that they are the good guys?” he said.

Casanova said BCDA shall pursue the case in accordance with law. “We cannot allow impunity to run rampant in Bonifacio Global City, and we must not let the government be held hostage by a single corporate entity. The BCDA aims to create a level playing field for all businesses to thrive in the area, and that cannot happen if companies like SM are blatantly ignoring and breaking the law,” he said.

Court needs to prove illegality

Sought for comment, SM Investments Corp investor relations head Corazon Guidote told InterAksyon.com that "the dispute is between the city of Taguig and BCDA."

SM Prime is the mall developer unit of SM Investments Corp, which is the holding firm of Henry Sy, the country's richest man.

Guidote said Taguig City owns the property, in which SM is a "lessee," having won a bidding four years ago.

As to the supposed illegality of SM Aura's construction, Guidote said the matter "is something that needs to be proven in court."

Hollywood A-lister Parker last Thursday inaugurated the opening of SM Aura, which has a gross floor area of 234,892 square meters and has office towers, a chapel, a convention center, and mini-coliseum supported by a retail podium.

SM Aura is SM Prime's 47th mall in the country and the company's first project in BGC.

SM earlier offered to develop the Bonifacio South property, but the government turned down the unsolicited proposal since the Aquino administration preferred to pursue projects through competitive bidding.

[shadow]

mag pa print ng flyers yun BCDA then ibigay doon sa mga squatters area na meron free food sa SM Aura para lahat sumugod doon...

[foresterx]

sm highend?:bwahaha: kahit ano gawin nila sa mall nila kung papasukin padin ng mga jologs yan walang mang yayari jan.

[_Qwerty_]

ginawa na nang Market Market yan.. kaya lang natuto na yung mga squatter.. maayos na din manamit.. so no choice mga security guards kundi papasukin..

[shadow]

hinde lang talaga sila makapasok ng high streets, serendra...kaya siguro ganun ang design ng Ayala. pang mga expats...mawawala mga jejemons sa high street dahil open space.