Jump to content

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.

Ayala Malls Central Bloc (Cebu IT Park, Cebu City): Mixed-Use Lifestyle Hub & Cebu's Second Ayala Mall

MTC

Recommended Posts

  • ADMINISTRATOR
MTC Veteran

MTC

Posted
  • ADMINISTRATOR
Posted

Ayala Malls Central Bloc is Ayala's second Cebu City mall — the open-air lifestyle hub that opened on 14 February 2020 in the heart of Cebu IT Park, calibrated as the contemporary counterpart to the multi-decade Ayala Center Cebu. The property carries approximately 125,000 square metres of gross leasable area across the open-air format that has defined the operator's contemporary lifestyle-hub vocabulary. Central Bloc sits at the commercial centre of the 27.3-hectare Cebu IT Park — the Lahug-district master-planned BPO-and-mixed-use district that Ayala Land developed across the 2000s and 2010s — delivering the retail-and-dining centrepiece to the IT Park's BPO worker demographic, the surrounding Lahug premium residential programme, and the broader affluent Cebu City lifestyle demand. The defining features: the open-air lifestyle format, the Seda Central Bloc Hotel integration, the multi-restaurant al-fresco dining programme, and the broader Ayala IT Park master-planned context.

Why Cebu Got a Second Ayala Mall

Cebu IT Park, Ayala Land's master-planned 27.3-hectare BPO-and-mixed-use district at Lahug, opened in the 2000s as the city's second major Ayala-developed business-and-lifestyle precinct after the older Cebu Business Park home of Ayala Center Cebu. Across the 2010s, IT Park grew into the city's BPO-services centrepiece — major outsourcing operators, Grade A office programmes, mid-rise residential, and the surrounding hospitality and retail support programme.

By the late 2010s, the IT Park demographic — BPO workers, Lahug-district premium residents, surrounding affluent Cebu City visitors — had outgrown the broader Lahug retail support. Ayala Malls Central Bloc opened on 14 February 2020 as the operator's answer: a 125,000-sqm open-air lifestyle hub at the IT Park's commercial centre, calibrated to serve both the daytime BPO workforce and the evening/weekend affluent lifestyle demographic.

The property functions, in the broader Cebu Ayala Malls portfolio, as the IT Park sister property to Ayala Center Cebu — the contemporary, open-air, lifestyle-hub-format counterpart to the multi-decade Cebu Business Park institutional flagship.

Getting There

For affluent visitors arriving from Mactan-Cebu International Airport, the drive runs approximately 25-35 minutes via the Mactan-Cebu Bridge and Salinas Drive to IT Park. From downtown Cebu City, the property sits within ten to fifteen minutes via Salinas Drive. From the older Cebu Business Park / Ayala Center Cebu, IT Park sits within five to ten minutes of driving access.

The Cebu City parent thread carries the broader Cebu City destination context.

The Open-Air Lifestyle Format

The defining structural feature: Central Bloc is built as an open-air lifestyle hub — distinct from the enclosed-mall format of Ayala Center Cebu and the broader SM Cebu portfolio. The layout integrates open-air walkways, central plaza programming, and the Garden Walk-equivalent outdoor lifestyle vocabulary that the operator has carried across Ayala Malls Solenad and the broader contemporary Ayala portfolio.

For affluent Cebu City regulars who have spent time at Ayala Center Cebu's older institutional flagship, Central Bloc reads as the contemporary IT Park-positioned counterpart — the same Ayala Malls institutional pedigree, calibrated to the open-air lifestyle-hub register.

Seda Central Bloc Hotel & Mixed-Use Integration

The single most-distinctive Central Bloc feature: the property carries an integrated Seda Central Bloc Hotel — the four-star business hotel that delivers the IT Park's affluent business-traveller accommodation programme. The hotel-mall integration delivers structural advantages for BPO corporate visitors, IT Park business meetings, and the broader Cebu MICE programme.

The broader Central Bloc development extends past pure retail into the BPO office programme and the surrounding Lahug premium residential development — the recognisable Ayala Land mixed-use vocabulary that has defined the operator's premium-district playbook across Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, and the broader provincial programme.

The Tenant Programme

Within the open-air property, the tenant programme delivers Ayala Malls' standard premium-international range, calibrated to Cebu IT Park demand:

International fashion: Zara, H&M, Uniqlo, the standard international fashion programme.

Sports: Adidas, Nike, the international sports-apparel programme.

Dining: The Central Bloc dining programme carries the property's most-developed positioning — multi-restaurant al-fresco programmes calibrated to both the BPO-worker lunch register and the affluent evening-and-weekend dining demand. The dining tenants range from premium-international restaurants to Filipino casual-premium outlets to the cafés and dessert programmes.

Cinema: Ayala Cinemas.

Bookstores and lifestyle: Fully Booked, the standard Ayala Malls lifestyle retail range.

How Central Bloc Compares

Within the Cebu Ayala retail landscape, Central Bloc sits in a structural complementary position to Ayala Center Cebu. The older Cebu Business Park property delivers the multi-decade premium-institutional flagship register with Rustan's, The Terraces, and the enclosed-and-open hybrid format. Central Bloc delivers the contemporary IT Park lifestyle-hub register with the open-air format, the Seda hotel integration, and the BPO-worker demographic positioning.

For affluent Cebu City visitors, the two properties function complementarily across the city's affluent retail circuit — the recommended programme often pairs Ayala Center Cebu daytime with Central Bloc evening (or vice versa).

For the broader Cebu retail context, NUSTAR The Mall delivers the luxury-maison register, SM Seaside City Cebu delivers the SRP mega-scale alternative, and SM City Cebu delivers the multi-decade SM Mabolo flagship.

When to Visit

The Cebu City climate runs year-round. Peak periods: Sinulog Festival in January, Holy Week, Christmas-New Year, and the mid-year sale weekends — the property is at peak during these periods. Weekday afternoons in any season deliver the property at its quietest.

For affluent IT Park business visitors, the Seda Central Bloc Hotel-Central Bloc integration delivers the in-district business-stay programme.

Related — All Properties Under Philippine Provincial Malls

Cebu and Mactan

Bacolod

Davao

Iloilo

Cagayan de Oro

Baguio

Pampanga / Clark

Laguna (Nuvali)

General Santos

Parent thread: Philippine Provincial Malls: NUSTAR, Ayala Cebu & Regional Lifestyle Hubs

Other Threads of Interest

Your turn. Central Bloc dining favourites — restaurants you keep returning to, the best al-fresco evenings, the BPO-worker lunch programme reports. Seda Central Bloc Hotel stays — how the in-IT-Park business hotel performs for Cebu corporate visitors. Central Bloc vs. Ayala Center Cebu day-part comparisons. IT Park residency-side reports from affluent Lahug regulars. Share your visits.

— Bizman

Link to comment
  • Replies 0
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...