Makati is noted for its highly cosmopolitan culture, also being a major cultural and entertainment hub in Metro Manila. Many expatriates live and work in the city. Makati is also home to many first-class shopping malls, which are located at Ayala Center and Rockwell Center. Makati also has the tallest buildings in the Philippines like PBCOM Tower, G.T. International Tower. The city also has many of the country's five-star hotels like The Peninsula Manila, the Shangri-La Hotel Makati and the Intercontinental Hotel Manila. Independent business travelers also benefit from budget hotels like the Saint Illian's Inn, El Cielito Inn, The Copa Businessman's Hotel, and The City Garden Suites, while serviced apartments like The Salcedo Suites, Fraser Place Manila, The Sunette Tower, and The Oxford Suites are gaining in popularity among business-minded travelers as well. Makati came from the Tagalog word kati, which means tide.[citation needed] This primarily refers to the rise and ebb of the tide of the Pasig River on the city's northern border. The city was also known as San Pedro de Macati during the Spanish era. Today the city is one of the most modern cities in the country and the Philippines' major global economic competitor in Asia.[citation needed] However, it faces challenges due to the disparate gap between the new city in the west, which contains the Central Business District, and the old city in the east, which is largely poor and where most of the city's slums are located. The Economy The Central Business District (CBD) is where most of Makati's financial resources are concentrated. This is an informal district bounded by EDSA, Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue (formerly Buendia), Antonio Arnaiz Road (formerly Pasay Road), and Chino Roces (formerly Pasong Tamo). It mainly encompasses Legaspi Village, Salcedo Village, Ayala Center, and parts of Bel-Air. Much of the area is owned by Ayala Land, Inc and administered through Makati Commercial Estates Authority (MACEA), its subsidiary. Many skyscrapers rise in this area. PBCom Tower along Ayala Avenue is the country's tallest building and reaches up 259 meters.[4][5] It is the headquarters of the Philippine Bank of Communications, or PBCom. The Business District is also considered as one of the most vibrant commercial districts in South-East Asia. Makati CBD is considered to be a major metropolis affecting world economies. One of the trading floors of the Philippine Stock Exchange is housed in Ayala Tower One and at the old Makati Stock Exchange Building, both also along Ayala Avenue. The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), the country's oldest bank, has its headquarters at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas. Other companies that have their offices and country/regional headquarters within Makati City, most within the CBD, include Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank), IBM, Procter & Gamble, Citibank, Ayala Corporation, Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Metrobank, Intel Philippines, Microsoft Philippines, Nestlé, Syngenta, Shell, Convergys Corporation, PeopleSupport, Pan Pacific Computer Center, Inc. (PPCC), Colgate-Palmolive Philippines, Inc., Holcim Philippines, and JG Summit, Accenture. Hewlett Packard's main Philippines office and an HP service center are in Makati City.[6] Asiana Airlines operates a sales office on the sixth floor of the Salcedo Tower in Makati City.[7] The Embassy of Switzerland, which serves the Philippines, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau, is located on the 24th floor of the Equitable Bank Tower in Makati City.[8] Shopping Centers
Ayala Center, along EDSA and Ayala Avenue is the most known commercial center in the city. Developed by the Ayala Corporation, it contains two shopping malls, Glorietta and Greenbelt, five hotels, and an office building. The larger of the two shopping malls is Glorietta, which itself is a cluster of malls. Rising from Glorietta 4 is the Ascott Tower(formerly Oakwood Premier), a luxurious hotel-apartment residence at the heart of the center. Along the periphery of Glorietta are three department stores: SM Department Store Makati, Rustan's, and the Landmark. Across Makati Avenue from Glorietta is Greenbelt. This is one of the most sophisticated, modern, and expensive malls in the country. Greenbelt features dozens of coffee stores and restaurants, all overlooking a well-landscaped green park at the center where a domed Catholic chapel dominates the skyline. Other hotels in the vicinity of Ayala Center are the Makati Shangri-la Hotel, the Manila Peninsula, the Dusit Hotel Nikkō, Manila Garden, the Hotel Intercontinental Manila, and Renaissance Makati City Hotel. Soon to rise is the Raffles Residences Manila, now under construction at the corner of Makati Avenue and Arnaiz Avenue (formerly Pasay Road). Rockwell Center is the other first-class shopping center in Makati. Rockwell features the large Power Plant Mall popular with expatriates. At the periphery of the center are many high-class residential condominium towers, the Asian Eye Institute, and the Ateneo de Manila Professional Schools main campus, which houses the Ateneo Law School, the Ateneo Graduate School of Business, and the Ateneo School of Government. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makati |