blue taxis

Ever since they started roving around the city blocks, talks about these new davao eye candies are circulating fast, first in enthused whispers, and now in open interest and curiosity.

it's davao's new sensation

SM North

In one of my previous entries, I mentioned that SM might be putting up a new mall in the city. But that came as a surprise since SM City in Ecoland has a sprawling land behind it covering more than thrice the mall’s current floor space. Why not utilize it?

I don’t know what’s up in a businessman’s mind, but it might as well be true that a petty rivarly between Ayala and SM is on tack. This is just a rumor, but it sounds funny so I’m putting it here. I’ve read somewhere that Henry Sy was not particularly happy when Trinoma opened because it “snatched” most – not some – of SM North’s customers. There is some truth in that though, as some of you who have been to the place may attest.

And so they say, that with the Abreeza coming up (yep! that’s the name of the Ayala Mall), SM just doesn’t want to be left behind. All I knew then was that it will be in Lanang, but specifically where, I just didn’t know yet.

But now I do! The Lanang Golf and Country Club is now being bulldozed off supposedly for the new SM Mall, which for now is called – drum roll pls. – the Davao SM North. At first I can’t believe that they’re actually destroying the golf course for a mall, but I’ve seen it and the old country club is gone. Oh well…

So for the record, 3 new malls are currently being constructed in Davao – Abreeza, Robinsons Cybergate, and “SM North”. These three are all located along the JP. Laurel Avenue and are slated to open two to three years from now.

More…
Sensing perhaps the upcoming competition, Gaisano Mall is actually doing a mall-wide renovation and a massive expansion. In that lot in the middle of Davao Central School and the GMall carpark, the new 7-storey Gaisano mall annex is currently being put up.

On top of that, the main building has finally come into terms with the word aesthetics. Right. The air conditioning tubes traversing the mall corridors and alleys are now out of sight and yellow lights are replacing most of the fluorescent lamps. A small job actually, but looking at how the malls looks now is really laudable.

Victoria? Ha. Nothing for now.

robinsons, ayala and a second sm?

When the news came up that Robinson’s and Ayala will be putting up their malls in the city, I told myself not to get too excited. But as a metro-minded Davaoeno, I can’t help myself but be engrossly hopeful. Now, after months of expectation, it’s finally official! The sites are ready and the plans are all laid down. The construction’s to start soon and there’s certainly no turning back!

This is the soon to come Robinson’s Cybergate Davao. It is a two-storey mall to be located near the DPWH office along J.P. Laurel Avenue in Bajada. The mall is set to open in 2009. It’s pretty small for a mall but at least it’s Robinson’s.

The more exciting one is the upcoming Ayala Center. This huge development (pegged at Php 3B worth – the single biggest investment in the city to date) will sprawl in front of the Redemptorist Church still along J.P. Laurel Avenue in Bajada. Aside from the mall complex, it will also house a 2-hectare IT park. The IT park is set to be constructed first and expected to open by 2009. The mall will follow in 2010.

Want more? Visit these great sites:

http://neodavao.wordpress.com/

http://ptlavina.wordpress.com/

Second SM?

Moreover, there is a rumor that a second SM mall will rise in Davao (in Lanang in particular) and is said to be much bigger than the one we have at Ecoland. But as I told myself before, I won’t get too excited. It might be just a rumor, anyway (*smiling profusely*).

davao submerged

A week of sporadic heavy rainfall in the city is causing the streets to flood and the people to grumble. Last night, with the skies thundering anew, our ever-active but always hindsighted city government officials decided to roam around the city blocks to check just how vigorous the mad weather was performing. And true to their observation, they deemed it appropriate to suspend the classes of all public and private elementary and high school departments.

To my frustration, the news came in late for many students. At DRANHS and its neighboring schools, the students were not allowed to enter the gates and were asked to go home. And so to my dismay and to everyone else, they crowded the Aplaya street.

All the more frustrating was that there was actually no other street left uncrowded. And for a full hour, I was smugly standing in line with hundreds of other commuters along the stretch of the McArthur highway just to scout for a vacant seat of whatever jeepney route there is to take me in.

I landed on an ecoland-roxas-bound jeep. Fortunately, I arrived in school on time. Thanks to my I’ll-go-early-to-school-today-and-do-my-assignments-for-the-day philosophy. Obviously, that gist of my ideal turned moot.

With the city in shock, it is of no surprise that the mayor was equally grumbling, though it was more of his failed drainage project (because no one is volunteering to scratch a portion of their land for some stinky canal and so everyone is blaming him for the floods) than of the long line of commuters.

And so to find an immediate resolve to this crisis, he said he’ll be hiring around 500 men just to clean the blocked drainage in the city, and for those unfortunately caught throwing garbage there, to throw the fools along with their trash. haha.

Anyway, I’m just hoping that next time the rain won’t hurry pouring himself out, else, it’s river in the city again..