ROBINSONS Land Corp. (RLC) has committed to ensuring that all of its future offices in the National Capital Region (NCR) will be environment-friendly and will have sustainability certifications.
“We actually said that all of our future buildings in NCR will be environment-friendly and built under the same ESG (environmental, social, and governance) standards. All these buildings will be certified,” RLC President and Chief Executive Officer Frederick D. Go told reporters on the sidelines of the property developer’s bond listing ceremony on Friday.
As part of its efforts to infuse sustainability in its buildings, RLC rolled out solar rooftops, recyclable water systems, environment-friendly equipment, solutions and systems, solid waste management, and bicycle-friendly facilities.
Mr. Go said that RLC buildings will seek to be certified not only with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) but also with other sustainability certifications such as Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence (BERDE).
Meanwhile, Mr. Go said that RLC has committed to infuse its office portfolio in its real estate investment trust (REIT) arm, RL Commercial REIT, Inc. (RCR).
“What RLC has committed is that our office portfolio is basically committed to RCR,” he said.
“We did say that it is our intention to infuse projects every year. So there will be an asset scheduled for infusion next year that we haven’t decided which one,” he added.
RLC is yet to make a decision on whether it will also be infusing its mall portfolio in RCR.
“Malls are definitely a REIT-able asset but we have not given it thought yet, I think the right timing for putting malls into REIT is still probably two years away. I don’t think now is the time to think about it,” Mr. Go said.
RLC is hopeful that foot traffic in its mall and hotel segment will be back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year.
“We are hopeful that we will be back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year and of course, we can only be hopeful. We can never be sure,” Mr. Go said. “[But] as long as there are no lockdowns, it will just keep getting better.” — Justine Irish D. Tabile
