SMART Turns Araneta Center Into A Wi-Fi Hotzone

SMART is now providing free Wireless Fidelity Service – also known as hotzoning – to areas around the 35-hectare Araneta Center, home to some of the finest shopping, dining and entertainment establishments in the metropolis. Hotzones are venues that offer WiFi access, making it possible for people to use their laptops, PDAs, or Dual-mode phones to access the Internet.
 
The service enables Araneta Center to offer free access to the Internet to people visiting the area, which averages more than a million transients daily. It allows them to experience greater convenience by using this free Internet access to check their email, chat with their friends, and update their blogs and social networking sites, all while on-the-go.
 
SMART’s hotzoning feature is now available for free at Gateway Mall and in the perimeters of Araneta Coliseum, Shopwise Araneta Center, and in the area of Ali Mall (along Times Square and General McArthur Avenue).
 
People visiting Araneta Center can easily connect to the World Wide Web to work or browse with WiFi-enabled devices - whether while in a coffee shop, restaurant, or in any establishment within the area.
 
SMART’s hotzoning of the Araneta Center marks another consumer-oriented innovation from the cellular leader. Several other services, such as SMART Money financial solutions, are in the pipeline and will provide the Araneta Group and their customers with connectivity, mobility, and access to other innovative technologies.

Araneta Center Receives Twin Citations from PRA

The country’s pioneer lifestyle center proves that it constantly sets the benchmark for excellence in retail as it receives two of the highest honors at the 11th Outstanding Filipino Retailers Awards held at the Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila.

Jorge L. Araneta, CEO of the Araneta Group was honored with The President’s Award— the highest citation to be given to the country’s top retail icons. He was recognized for his vision and significant contributions not only to the industry but also to the growth of the local business sector, thus earning him the title Pioneer of Retail Entertainment. The award pays tribute to the urban renaissance of the Araneta Center, which now offers a complete live-work-play environment with the best of shopping and dining.

Gateway Mall, Araneta Center’s upscale lifestyle destination, got inducted to the PRA Hall of Fame as it once again received the Shopping Center of the Year award. Gateway Mall has also received accolade from the international circuit as the recipient of the Merit Award from the International Council of Shopping Centers Design Competition for its tasteful design elements complemented with functional amenities. VP for A&E Julie Castro along with foreign consultants Kang Tang and Sudhakar Thakurdesai received the award for a shopping center like no other.

Truly an embodiment of retail excellence, the Araneta Center moves forward with its redevelopment plans towards becoming the country’s ultimate shopping and dining destination.

Mandarin Oriental Suites is Now Open at Gateway

As part of its continuing productive partnership with the world-renowned Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the fourth level of Gateway Mall is now home to The Mandarin Oriental Suites.

The Mandarin Oriental Suites at Gateway is composed of luxuriously appointed function rooms and a business center.

The Mandarin Oriental Suites aims to provide the convenience of first-class hotel amenities to the growing corporate clientele and style-savvy urbanites at the heart of the metro.

Gateway Mall Wins in International Design Competition

Gateway Mall, the country’s upscale lifestyle destination right in the heart of the metro, proves that it is definitely a mall like no other as it recently garnered the merit award in the 2006 International Design and Development Awards sponsored by the International Council of Shopping Centers.

The International Design and Development Awards recognizes excellence and sets the standard for the best and brightest retail and redevelopment projects around the globe. Gateway Mall has been chosen for its innovations in mall design and amenities, serving as the catalyst for the renaissance of the urban district that is the Araneta Center. Winners were announced last November 30, 2006 at the Marriott Desert Ridge Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona during the ICSC Centerbuild Conference.

The International Council of Shopping Centers is the trade association of the shopping center industry. With more than 54,000 shopping center professionals as members in 96 countries worldwide, ICSC provides a wide array of services for the industry, supplemented by trade publications and research. This year’s jury for the International Design and Development Awards is composed of ICSC members who are industry leaders from retail, architecture, financial investment, consulting, and development.

As the only mall directly connected to the Araneta Coliseum, home of the biggest sporting and entertainment events, Gateway Mall’s unique design features include The Pavilion, the mall’s grand ceremonial entrance with intricate metalwork celebrating the motifs and colors of the Philippine fiesta. Bright shopfronts and hallways offer uncluttered displays for discriminating shoppers, showcasing a myriad of top international retail brands and dining establishments. Elevated walkways link the mall to the two major mass transit lines, the MRT-3 and LRT-2, offering convenience in a mobile lifestyle. The Gateway Cineplex features a cinema lobby skylight, providing cinemagoers a taste of Hollywood. A haven for weary shoppers await at The Oasis. Known as the only floating garden in a mall, The Oasis is operated by the Mandarin Oriental Café and Deli, and showcases a variety of exotic flora in a lush tropical setting. All these amenities and an improved streetscape reflecting Araneta Center’s grand redevelopment plan led to Gateway Mall’s recognition as one of the most tastefully-designed malls in the world.

Gateway Mall   brings honor and a sense of pride not only to its immediate community, but to the whole country as it sets the benchmark in developing new urban lifestyle centers.

For more updates on what’s new at Gateway, visit www.gatewaymall.com.ph or www.aranetacenter.net.

Gateway Mall: Innovation by Design

Original Master Plan:
Sudhakar Thakurdesai AIA and RTKL International, Ltd.  LA, California, USA.
Shopping Center Management & Retail Consultant:
Robert S. Solomon S.C.S.M.
Cinema Consultant:
Cinema Works Ltd., United Kingdom
Owner/Mgt Co/ Dev’t Co/ Leasing:
Araneta Center, Inc. Design Architect:
Sudhakar Thakurdesai, AIA

Production (Technical Team): Julie I. Castro of ACI Plans & Design Graphic Designer: Dudrow Design, USA
Lighting Designer: Emerald Systems Consultants
Landscape Architect: PDAA Partners Landscape Architects
General Contractor: C-E Construction Corporation

Major Redevelopment Projects in Full Swing at the
Araneta Center

The Philippines’ premiere shopping and entertainment hub, the Araneta Center forges a partnership with Megaworld Properties—developers of the country’s most successful techno-residential centers like Eastwood City and the IBM Plaza—to create a mixed-use complex that’s set to give a whole new meaning to the concept of a lifestyle center.

Manhattan Garden City is the first of its kind in Philippine real estate as the transit-oriented project will be the first to offer the convenience of getting the best out of the shopping and dining experience as well as proximity to all the major destinations of the metro via the two major light rail transit systems—the MRT 3 and LRT2—directly connected to the Araneta Center.

The mixed-use development will also be the first to incorporate garden-style landscaping in its three-story elevated walkways directly connected to Gateway Mall. It is one of the project’s unique features that is designed to make walking to the transit lines and around the Araneta Center as leisurely as a stroll through a park, further enhancing the new urban experience.

Occupying 5.7 hectares within the Araneta Center, Manhattan Garden City’s first phase has already begun with the construction of Manhattan Parkway, composed of three towers of executive studios as well as residential suites. Apart from offering a majestic view overlooking Manila Bay, Manhattan Parkway will also offer leisure amenities such as a fitness station, a spa, a gym, and jogging trails. It will also serve as the gateway to a myriad of different lifestyle and traffic-free travel options.

Gateway Mall, Araneta Center’s upscale shopping destination is also currently developing its expansion wing. Gateway Tower 2 is a 25-storey retail and office extension integrated with the Mall’s unique amenities as well as the country’s two major mass transit lines.

The Araneta Center keeps up with the demands of the fast-paced digital age and the increased demand for BPOs with the construction of its CyberPark.

The Cyberpark is composed of eight hectares of prime space at the heart of the Araneta Center. It consists of modern 4-6 storey office buildings, with each floor measuring 2,500-5,000 square meters.

Accenture, a major player in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry with over 100,000 employees worldwide, has established its offices at the Gateway Tower. Foreign-based APAC Customer Services Inc., meanwhile, is the first Araneta Center Cyberpark tenant, with a 2,000-seat call center established in Quezon City as part of their Manila expansion. Other key institutions in the BPO industry are exploring the possibility of making the Araneta Center Cyberpark as a site for their corporate offices due to its prime location to the major hubs of the metropolis, among them Advanced Contact Solutions, which opened its sixth contact center facility in the country at the Araneta Center last June.

Known as the country’s premiere lifestyle destination for providing Filipinos with over 40 years of the best shopping and dining experience , Araneta Center is taking the first step once again towards providing a lifestyle like no other—one that successfully intersperses work and play—within the hassle-free environs of the redevelopment projects that is sure to give a new dimension to today’s urban living.