When the Philippines recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, Suncity Group will be ready to get the local gambling economy on a path toward a quick recovery. It has been busy putting together the final pieces of its planned casino at the Westside City project in Manila and brought in Megawide Construction Corp. last November to bring the resort to life. Through its subsidiary in the Philippines, Suntrust Home Developers, Suncity continues to shape the back-of-house operations to support its end game and announced yesterday the incorporation of a new company that will help it achieve its goals. Suncity WC Hotel Inc. has now been incorporated into Suntrust Homes after the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippines gave its approval.
The entity is now completely owned by Suntrust after the latter purchased all of its available shares, 10,138,200 in total, for around $211,000. Two nominal shares that had been controlled by Suncity WC’s original Board of Directors were also included in the transaction. For its part, Suncity Group controls 51% of Suncity through another arm, Fortune Noble Ltd and Megaworld controls 43.5%, which makes the decision to allow the construction company to develop the project no surprise. The remaining 5.5% of Suntrust is owned by Aurora Securities.
Suncity WC is going to manage the operations of the new resort, starting with its preliminary work to get things organized. The project, which carries a price tag of over $700 million, is expected to open sometime late next year in Westside City Resorts World in the Entertainment City area of Manila. However, the continued threat by COVID-19 might cause the timeline to shift. It could also, as is the case with most large development projects, lead to additional costs that hadn’t previously been considered.
Once everything is in place, the resort will cover over 473,000 square feet (44,000 square meters) and have a building floor area of around 1,959,032 square feet (182,000 square meters). Plans are for the resort to offer a total of 400 gaming tables and 1,200 slots available to both VIP and mass gaming segments, although counting on a lot of VIP traffic may prove to be misguided. The resort will also have a five-star hotel with 400 rooms.
Suncity WC will focus on the day-to-day operations of the new resort, except for the gambling operations. Its Articles of Incorporation explain that it will be responsible for “establishing, constructing, operating, managing, and/or maintaining hotels, health and wellness shops, cinema, car parks, entertainment centers, amusement centers and other tourism-related facilities and all its incidental and allied facilities and services, and to own (other than land), hold, lease or sublease any real and personal property, which may be necessary or convenient for the conduct of its businesses.”
