San Lazaro Tourism and Business Park

San Lazaro Tourism and Business Park is the marketing name given to the 16-hectare (40-acre) multiple use site under development by the Manila Jockey Club Investments Corp. in Manila, Philippines. It takes its name from the old San Lazaro Hippodrome, a horse racetrack that stood on the site from 1912 to 2003.[1][2] Currently, the site includes the SM City San Lazaro shopping center, the two-tower Vertex office complex, the three-tower Celadon Park and Celadon Residences, and the five-tower Avida Towers San Lazaro condominium complex.[3] It has been declared a tourism economic zone with information technology component in 2009.[4]

San Lazaro Tourism and Business Park
Project
Opening Date2001 (2001)
DeveloperManila Jockey Club Investments Corp.
OwnerManila Jockey Club Investments Corp.
WebsiteMJC Investments Corp.
Location
San Lazaro Tourism and Business Park
LocationSanta Cruz, Manila, Philippines

Location
The Celadon and Vertex One
SM City San Lazaro on Tayuman Street

San Lazaro is located in the northern portion of Manila within the city district of Santa Cruz between the University Belt area and the Manila North Cemetery. It is bounded by Tayuman Street and Consuelo Street on the south, the Philippine National Railways (PNR) line on Antipolo Street on the north, Elias Street to the east, and Felix Huertas Road to the west which runs parallel to Rizal Avenue. The site is close to major Manila landmarks such as the University of Santo Tomas, the Archdiocesan Shrine of Espiritu Santo, the Manila Chinese Cemetery, and the San Lazaro compound which houses the Department of Health head office, Hospital de San Lazaro and José R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center.

History

The land the development sits on was the site of the San Lazaro Hippodrome, home of the Manila Jockey Club, the first racing club in Southeast Asia established in 1867.[1] It was built in 1912 on the 400-hectare (990-acre) former friar estate known during the Spanish colonial period as the Hacienda de Mayhaligue. It later came to be the known as the Hacienda de San Lazaro being home of the Hospital de San Lazaro, the hospital for lepers administered by the Franciscan religious order since 1785.[5] The site itself was the location of the Monasterio de Santa Clara which the Manila Jockey Club purchased during the early days of the American colonial period in 1900. Prior to the construction of the hippodrome at San Lazaro, the club held its races at the Santa Mesa Hippodrome in Santa Mesa.[1]

In 2001, the Manila Jockey Club entered into a joint venture agreement with SM Prime Holdings for conversion of 4 hectares (9.9 acres) of property into a shopping mall.[6] It also signed a venture with Ayala Land for office and residential development in the property in 2007.[7] The racing club moved to its new location at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite in 2003.[2]

Winford Hotel and Casino
Winford Hotel and Casino

An P8 billion hotel casino was opened in January 2016 within the San Lazaro tourism park named Winford Hotel and Casino (formerly Winford Leisure and Entertainment Complex). It is anchored on a 22-story five-star hotel building with 128 all-suite rooms and close to 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of casino floor. The casino is operated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) under the terms of the license issued to Manila Jockey Club in 2009. The complex also contains facilities for meetings and events targeted to the affluent Filipino Chinese community in the area of Central Manila.[8][9]

Transportation

San Lazaro is near major transportation arteries. It is accessible from downtown Manila via Rizal Avenue (Radial Road 9) and Lacson Avenue (Circumferential Road 2). In the future, the Metro Manila Skyway will link the area with the North Luzon Expressway and South Luzon Expressway enhancing accessibility in the area. It is served by both the Tayuman Station and Blumentritt Station of the Manila Light Rail Transit System Line 1 and the Blumentritt railway station of PNR.

See also

References
  1. "Philippines". Asian Racing Federation. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  2. "Goodbye San Lazaro, hello Carmona". Manila Standard Today. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  3. "MJC earmarking P15B for property development". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  4. "Proclamation No. 1727, s. 2009". Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  5. "A Legacy of Public Health" (PDF). Department of Health. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  6. "SM to put up shopping mall on San Lazaro lot". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  7. "Ayala Land, Manila Jockey Club in P2.5-B venture". GMA Network News. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  8. "Another casino rising, right in the heart of gridlocked Manila". Interaksyon. Archived from the original on 2015-06-01. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  9. Montealegre, K.A.M. (7 January 2016). "MJC Investments opens casino at Winford Hotel". BusinessWorld. Retrieved 11 August 2016.

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