Robinsons Land Corp., the property development arm of the Gokongwei Group, is soon launching major renovations of its malls—particularly the flagship malls—in response to consumer preference for more premium lifestyle spaces.

In a media interview, RLC President and CEO Mybell V. Aragon-Gobio said, “We will announce it soon. We’re just finalizing the costings. Certainly, the more mature ones, our flagship malls, will be undergoing redevelopment.”

She said the premiumization of their older malls will be a continuous process and will not be constrained to just a few years.

The first project to be announced will be “of a significant scale, and then, in line with the premiumization, it will be continuous endeavor to raise the standards of these retail spaces.

“We feel that, by doing so, we are able to participate in the premium pricing, rate-wise, and then it gives us better margins as well,” Aragon-Gobio explained.

She noted that, “where there is an opportunity to increase GLA (gross leasable area), then we do so. So that's an expansion, otherwise it's a redevelopment, so that we're able to command better rates.

“It's really also that the consumer preferences are evolving. So they're becoming more discriminating. They're looking for more experiential offerings. So that's what we're trying to address through premiumization.” Aragon-Gobio added.

RLC Senior Vice President Jericho P. Go noted that, consumer preference for more premium offerings is “very aspirational” and, while some of RLC’s malls have strong mass-based followings...in my dealings with different classes of the population, people work hard because they want to get something better.

“So, nobody wanted to work hard to be in the middle or the below, and that's why what we're seeing is value for money. So we're providing this premiumization story, not just in terms of quality, but the experience, customer centricity.”

Currently, RLC’s most upscale retail development is in the Nustar integrated resort in Cebu as well as the Opus mall in Bridgetowne, both of which have been opened to the public recently.

But, Aragon-Gobio said that, this early, RLC is already considering the expansion of Opus Mall there are many establishments that want to move into the mall “but there's not much that we can offer now. Those are pretty much committed. We're just waiting for the tenants to open.”

“So there's a case to expand it, but we were being very disciplined about it,” she said, noting that the expansion is still under consideration.

“So that will be part of our future stories. When we're ready to disclose, you'll find that we will be upgrading our commercial offerings. The new malls will have better deliverables, better specifications, better tenant mixes as well. But then, also, we'll be redeveloping certain flagship malls,” Aragon-Gobio concluded.