Ortigas Center

Ortigas Center skyline at night

Ortigas Center is a financial and central business district located at the boundaries of Pasig, Mandaluyong, and Quezon City in the Philippines. With an area of more than 100 hectares (250 acres), it is Metro Manila's second most important business district after the Makati CBD.[1] It is governed by Ortigas Center Association, Inc.

Ortigas Center is home to many shopping malls, office and condominium skyscrapers, other building complexes, nightlife bars and restaurants. These include the St. Francis Square, the Asian Development Bank compound, the Oakwood Premier serviced apartments and a Shangri-La hotel. It is also the headquarters of San Miguel Corporation, Jollibee Foods Corporation, the Philippine branch of HSBC, and Robinsons Galleria. Also present in the area are Philippine offices of prominent engineering firms such as Parsons Brinckerhoff, Sinclair Knight Merz, and WSP Group. It also home to the Banco de Oro main office owned by mall taipan Henry Sy, Sr. SM Megamall, the third largest mall in the world and the largest in the country, is also in the Center along EDSA, as is The Medical City, one of the three hospitals in the country accredited by the Joint Commission on International Accreditation.[2]

Ortigas Center is surrounded by the streets of EDSA to the west, Ortigas Avenue to the north, Meralco Avenue to the east, and Shaw Boulevard to the south.

History

Ortigas Center began as the 4,033-hectare "Hacienda de Mandaloyon", an estate from the Augustinian Order. In the following years, there were several changes of partners. Then, on July 10, 1931, the company was incorporated “Ortigas, Madrigal y cia., S. en C.” as a limited partnership by shares (sociedad comanditaria por acciones). The parties to the partnership were Francisco Ortigas (Don Paco), Vicente Madrigal, B.C.M. Johnston, Fulgencio Borromeo, Clyde A. Dewitt and Manuel L. Quezon.

When Ortigas & Company acquired the estate, it was a virtual wasteland. The vision of the management, headed by Atty. Francisco Ortigas, Jr., who was President and Chairman at that time, turned it into a progressive industrial, commercial, and residential urban complex.[3]

Districts

North Side

The northern portion of the area is part of Quezon City. It is situated south of Ugong Norte. The EDSA Shrine and Robinsons Galleria is situated here. Robinsons Galleria is a mixed-use complex composed of two high-rise office towers namely the Galleria Corporate Center and the Robinsons-Equitable Tower, the Holiday Inn Manila and Crowne Plaza Manila, the Galleria Regency and a 5-level shopping mall. Before Robinsons Galleria, This mall used to be an open land owned by SSS at Ortigas CBD. In 1986, they used the land for the People Power Revolution. In 1987, John Gokongwei bought the large portion of the land from SSS. It started construction on mid-1988 and finished on late-1989. The mall opened in 1990 being the first mall of Robinsons Malls.

West Side

The western portion of Ortigas Center is part of Mandaluyong City. It is in the eastern side of Barangay Wack-Wack Greenhills. Mandaluyong is known for being the "Shopping Capital of the Philippines" because it is home to a cluster of shopping centers which stand side by side. This is where most of the shopping malls in the area located like SM Megamall, The Podium, Shangri-la Plaza Mall and St. Francis Square Mall. It is also proximity to nearby Cybergate Center.

East Side

The eastern portion of Ortigas Center is part of Pasig. The whole place is politically known as Barangay San Antonio. It is where most of Pasig's financial resources are primarily concentrated. This is where most of skyscrapers of Ortigas Center located. The barangay of San Antonio has the largest income in Pasig, second only to San Lorenzo Village of Makati as the largest single income-generated government unit in the Philippines.

Prominent Structures

Ortigas Skyline sunset shot from Antipolo City.
Ortigas Center skyline

Buildings

Malls

Offices

Churches

Schools

TV and radio studios Transmitters

References

  1. ↑ "DTI Nationwide". Department of Trade and Industry. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  2. ↑ http://www.jointcommissioninternational.org/JCI-Accredited-Organizations/#Philippines
  3. ↑ http://www.ortigas.com.ph/about.html

External links

Coordinates: 14°35′00″N 121°03′40″E / 14.58333°N 121.06111°E / 14.58333; 121.06111

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.