Lucio Tan-led Eton Properties Philippines, Inc. will foray into business process outsourcing (BPO) market in line with its expansion plans.

In a briefing yesterday, Eton properties President and Chief Operating Officer Danilo E. Ignacio said the company plans to put up BPO buildings in Ortigas Ave., Pasig City and Epifanio delos Santos Ave. corner Quezon Ave., Quezon City.

The two office buildings, which will have a total leasable space of 27,000 sq.m. will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2008.

“Cyberpod will be our brand name for our BPO office buildings,” he told reporters.

He said that the BPO facilities would not be high-rise buildings because of height limitations.

He also said that the move would take advantage of the current lack of office space in Metro Manila. “We know for the fact there is a shortage in office space between now and 2009. The window of opportunity we are looking at is last quarter of 2008,” he said.

Eton Cyberpod Centris, located along EDSA in Quezon City, is part of a 12-hectare mixed-use and fully integrated community.

The development will include a shopping district, a luxury residential cluster, a businessman’s hotel among others.

The property, which is right beside the Quezon Ave Metro Rail Transit station is currently being used as a golf course. “This project is master planned for a mixed-use township. This is our first commercial center,” Mr. Ignacio said.

He added that the development would not compete with the retail centers of Ayala Land, Inc. and the SM group in EDSA.

“I don’t think it will be wise to compete for the same market as Ayala Land’s TriNoMa and Sy’s SM City,” he said.

“The concept we will do for our commercial center is a concept that will complement rather than compete,” he added.

Starting construction on Dec. 8, the first of the BPO facilities to rise is a 12-storey building with 2,000-square meter floor plate that will provide 18,000-sq.m. floor area of retail and office spaces. The master plan provides seven low-rise office buildings for BPOs. “The building will be purely for lease; we won’t sell it. We are talking to several tenants now. We will be very competitive (in pricing our lease rates),” Mr. Ignacio said.

Meanwhile, Eton properties will start construction of Eton Cyberpod Corinthian, a BPO office complex at Ortigas Ave. and EDSA in front of Robinsons Galleria on January 2008. It is masterplanned for three four-storey building plus one parking basement,” Mr. Ignacio said.

The official said Eton properties was approached by existing call centers and BPOs who are looking for low-rise campus type buildings. “There is a possibility there will be more supply than demand on 2009 since a lot of under construction will be on board. My strategy is I don’t want to build something for 2009. the two buildings I will build is for 2008 so I don’t worry for a possible oversupply in 2009,” he said.