Month: September 2019

All seven underground passageways and the elevated walkway are equipped with ascend escalators that have, by normal wear and tear, lived way beyond their service lifespan average of 15 years. This prompted the Board of Governors to embark on a project to retire the old escalators and replace them with brand-new ones.

Because of the size of the capital expenses required to replace 29 escalators, however, the Board took the prudent decision to do it by batches.

The first batch, work on which started in November, involves 11 escalators—two at the Legazpi Underpass, four each at the Paseo de Roxas and Rufino Underpasses, and one at the PLDT gateway of the elevated walkway. They are scheduled to reopen and be pressed to service again in April 2017.

The escalator replacement project will be carried on, a few at a time, until all 29 escalators are replaced.

The elevated pedestrian walkway along De la Rosa St. in Legazpi Village, which originally ran 795 meters, now runs the whole stretch of De la Rosa St., from Legazpi St. at the PLDT Building all the way to Salcedo St. behind the Makati Medical Center.

The new segment was blessed and inaugurated on November 28 in a simple ceremony, with Makati Mayor Abigail Campos as guest of honor.

With the 305-meter extension from V.A. Rufino to Salcedo St., the walkway now has a total length of 1,110 meters and brings the residents and workers near the Makati Medical Center and Sen. Puyat Avenue closer to the commercial center.

The 22-year-old elevated walkway has also undergone maintenance with the repair and repainting of the steel posts and railings at various parts, repainting of the hallway near the Enterprise Center, and the replacement of the polycarbonate roof at the Paseo gateway.

The Makati Commercial Estate Association has been making its mark in the Makati Central Business District for over half a century. Known simply as MaCEA, it has become synonymous with urban center development and has in fact become the model emulated by other central business districts in Metro Manila and the gold standard against which they are measured.

After 50 years, MaCEA is moving forward with a hastened stride—wearing a new face and a fresh identity that encompasses its history of proud achievement, closing loopholes and using new tools that do the job more efficiently and at a faster pace.

Hence the move for change, for rebranding, to polish the MaCEA name to a brighter, more radiant shine. An organization that is in and of the 21st century, comfortable with the technology and devices that drive it forward and keep it connected to and in step with the rest of the world.

We began with a move to boost our public image, the face that we are known by, the look that establishes our identity—a new logo.

We commissioned an artist to design a logo that reflects the Association’s new mindset—dynamic, vibrant, youthful, forward-looking, and very much in tune with the rapidly-moving times. A trademark that reflects its solid grounding on a vision of growth and on a rich history of development that have allowed it to evolve into what it is today: the certified financial capital of the country.

The new logo’s colors symbolize MaCEA’s core values and aspirations—blue for trust and stability, gold for prosperity, and green for sustainability, energy and love of nature.

The signs of change are everywhere, the new branding making itself seen and felt in many ways—we see MaCEA personnel wearing new uniforms; we see a brand-new security van driven by uniformed security men making the rounds of the district 24/7; we keep ourselves updated on goings-on by logging on our facebook page; and we connect with the MaCEA office by dialing an easy-to-remember vanity phone number that carries the Association’s identity: 81-MaCEA or 81-62232.

And there’s the MaCEA Office Building, looking new with a fresh coat of paint, a visible manifestation of the sweeping change throughout the Association.

All these measures are meant to keep us close to and ever connected with the members we serve and, by extension, the transient population that streams in and out of the district we operate in.