Aboitiz Economic Estates is broadening its real estate footprint in Batangas, with plans to add 500 hectares (ha) to its flagship LIMA Estate and invest P7 billion in a seven-tower office pipeline.

The expansion would grow LIMA Estate from 1,100 ha to 1,600 ha, the company announced on Monday. Groundbreaking on the first 100 ha is expected toward the end of the year, with roughly 100 ha of new inventory to be brought to market annually over the next five years. LIMA Estate, which straddles Lipa and Malvar in Batangas, operates as a Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)-registered economic zone, and the surrounding Calabarzon region is one of the country's main manufacturing and logistics corridors.

"LIMA today is 1,100 [hectares] and we're expanding by another 500 [hectares]," Aboitiz Economic Estates President Rafael P. Fernandez de Mesa said on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Batangas State University LIMA Campus on Monday.

The additional land will be used primarily for industrial development. The company also plans to build a commercial business district on the side of the estate facing Maharlika Highway, with groundbreaking for that commercial development targeted for 2028.

The expansion extends toward Santo Tomas, Batangas, and Alaminos, Laguna, and is being timed alongside major infrastructure projects, including the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR Tollway) and the South Luzon Expressway Toll Road 4 (SLEX TR4). The STAR Tollway links Santo Tomas to Batangas City, while SLEX TR4 will extend the South Luzon Expressway from Santo Tomas toward Lucena, Quezon, improving access to areas further south.

Mr. Fernandez de Mesa said the move also aligns with government efforts to move the Philippines up the value chain in semiconductors and other emerging industries such as artificial intelligence and data. The Philippines has long hosted semiconductor assembly, test, and packaging operations, many of them based in PEZA-registered zones, and the government has been courting higher-value investments in chips and data infrastructure.

Alongside the land expansion, Aboitiz Economic Estates is planning P7 billion in office investments within LIMA Estate through its seven-tower LIMA Towers pipeline, with each building estimated to require about P1 billion in capital expenditure.

Malcolm Santiago, LIMA Estate head of operations for commercial business, said the seven towers are expected to be developed over 12 to 15 years, depending on market demand.

The 11-story LIMA Tower 1 is already operational and has an occupancy rate of 50%. Business process outsourcing (BPO) firms such as Conduent Inc., Revolve Group, Inc., and Fusion CX account for 95% of its current tenant base. IT-BPM companies have historically anchored Philippine office demand, and office development has in recent years spread beyond Metro Manila into regional hubs such as Batangas.

"We're just working on establishing a good occupancy rate for LIMA Tower 1, which we are expecting to hit if [not by] the end of this year, mid next year," Mr. Santiago said.

Construction of LIMA Tower 2 is expected to begin once Tower 1 reaches an occupancy rate of 80% to 85%, potentially by mid-2027, he added.

While LIMA Tower 1 was originally intended solely for BPO companies, the office development is now being positioned for a mix of traditional and BPO firms.

"One of the learnings we got also from LIMA Tower 1 [is that] there were offices within Lipa who wanted to experience [being] in an office building. So we actually served that by converting a certain floor… into catering to and accommodating offices that are non-BPO," Mr. Santiago said.

Aboitiz Economic Estates is also adopting green building standards as part of its efforts to attract global investors. LIMA Tower 1 has secured Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence (BERDE) and WELL certifications. BERDE is the Philippines' national green building rating system administered by the Philippine Green Building Initiative, while the WELL Building Standard, administered by the International WELL Building Institute, certifies building features tied to occupant health and well-being.

Shares in parent Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. rose by 1.94%, or 70 centavos, to P36.75 apiece on Tuesday. — Juliana Chloe A. Gonzales