The renovation is done. Now Ayala is changing the shops inside its malls.

RENOVATED. The renovation of Glorietta's cinema has been completed.

Lance Spencer Yu/Rappler

As malls complete their glow-up, Ayala Land hopes it can ‘bring in the concepts to kind of match the new physical experience’

AT A GLANCE

• Ayala Land has completed renovations of major malls including Glorietta, Greenbelt, TriNoma, and Ayala Center Cebu, moving into a 'merchant replacement phase' to refresh the mix of shops and restaurants.
• Glorietta has undergone significant changes, including a new pedestrian park and improved navigation, while rental rates have increased by an average of 25% in areas where stores have been updated.
• Despite challenges in the residential market, Ayala Land's shopping center revenues grew by 4% year-on-year, with a notable increase in spending on malls, indicating a strategic shift towards expanding their retail footprint.

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MANILA, Philippines – The construction dust may finally be settling at some of Ayala Land’s biggest malls, but the makeover isn’t quite over.

After spending the past two years renovating flagship properties such as Glorietta, Greenbelt, TriNoma, and Ayala Center Cebu, the scaffolding and temporary walls are finally coming down. Ayala Land is now moving into what it calls the “merchant replacement phase,” which involves changing the mix of shops, restaurants, and other concepts that customers will find inside.

“The physical works have been completed. So now it’s about ensuring that we can bring in the concepts to kind of match the new physical experience,” said Mariana Beatriz Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Land senior vice president and head of its leasing and hospitality group, during the company’s H1 2026 briefing on Monday, August 10. 

Glorietta has mostly finished its glow-up. The mall, last majorly renovated in 2012, has a new look to its cinemas and refreshed decors throughout. The biggest change is a new pedestrian park connecting the outside part of Glorietta 3, replacing what used to be the car mall entrance. Portions, such as the food court, remain under renovation.

Zobel de Ayala had also previously said that after the renovations, the refreshed Glorietta and Greenbelt malls should have a more “intuitive wayfind and circulation.” If you’ve ever gotten lost in Glorietta’s maze-like interior, this should come as welcome news.

Where stores and concepts have already been replaced or refreshed, rental rates have risen by an average of 25%. (FIRST LOOK: How Glorietta, Greenbelt, TriNoma, Ayala Center Cebu will be redesigned)

Ayala Center Cebu, the most advanced of the four mall reinventions, is already seeing around 10% year-on-year rental-rate growth. Ayala Land president and CEO Anna Ma. Margarita Dy said the full benefits of the overhaul could still take another two to three years to materialize.

New look, new shops

For shoppers, some of that next phase is already becoming visible.

At Greenbelt, Ayala recently soft-opened about 3,000 square meters of Greenbelt 2. The former Greenbelt townhomes, meanwhile, are being repurposed into T:28, which management described as a nightlife concept. TriNoma is also getting additional retail space.

Then there is, of course, still Greenbelt 1. The decades-old mall was designed by National Artist for Architecture Leandro Locsin and first opened in 1982. It has since been demolished, but Ayala is expected to unveil its new look in 2028.

In its other spaces, Ayala is also bringing in brands both new and old to many Filipino shoppers as its retail footprint expands. Management highlighted Makro, the Thai wholesale-retail chain, at Ayala Malls Arca South; premium grocery chain Spinneys at Parklinks and San Antonio Plaza Arcade; and IKEA as an anchor at Gatewalk in Cebu.

Ayala Malls Arca South formally opened in 2026 as a mixed-format retail development, while the company is preparing another major mall opening in Nuvali in November. Gatewalk is targeted to open in December.

Ayala’s numbers suggest that customers are responding. Same-mall sales grew 7% in the first half of 2026, while foot traffic rose 5%. Traffic at premium malls increased 8%, compared with 3% at its core malls.

Betting more on malls

The reinvention is becoming more important to Ayala Land at a time when its residential development business is facing a tougher market.

Shopping center revenues reached P12 billion in the first half, up 4% year-on-year. Strip out Alabang Town Center (ATC), which Ayala no longer owns, and mall revenues grew by about 9%. (READ: Refreshed Alabang Town Center? What shoppers can expect now that Rockwell has near-full control.)

Ayala Land sold its stake in Alabang Commercial Center Corporation, the company behind Alabang Town Center, to the Madrigal family for P13.5 billion in December 2025. ATC has since been acquired by the Lopez’s Rockwell Land. Ayala described the transaction as a way to unlock capital for new commercial developments.

The sale is part of a broader shift toward putting capital where Ayala sees more room to grow. In the first half, spending on malls surged 62% to P9.2 billion, even as residential capital expenditures fell 24%. – Rappler.com