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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Power Plant Mall

Power Plant Mall is an upscale indoor shopping mall in Makati, Philippines. It is the anchor establishment of Rockwell Center, a mixed-use area north of the Makati Central Business District on the Pasig River waterfront across Mandaluyong. It is one of two shopping centers developed and managed by Rockwell Land Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation, in Metro Manila. It was designed by Toronto-based architecture firm, Design International.

Description

Power Plant Mall's interior in January 2011
A hallway with Christmas ornaments
Power Plant Mall's interior in December 2024

The five-storey shopping mall is located at Rockwell Drive corner Estrella Street in Barangay Poblacion, Makati. It is part of the Rockwell Center, which includes the One Rockwell West Tower, the ninth tallest building in the metropolis. It has a gross floor area of 41,000 square meters (440,000 sq ft) and is anchored by The Marketplace supermarket, an eight-screen Power Plant Cinema, and a mix of high-end tenants such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Hackett London, Michael Kors, DKNY, Rolex and J.Lindeberg. It also contains several dining outlets, The Fifth at Rockwell events hall, a Roman Catholic chapel called the Chapel of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and three levels of basement parking.

The mall can be reached from EDSA via Estrella and J. P. Rizal Avenue and from the Makati CBD via Kalayaan Avenue. The nearest MRT station is Guadalupe station on EDSA.

History

Power Plant Mall was built in December 2000 on the former site of the 130-megawatt Rockwell Thermal Plant owned by the Lopez-led Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company. The thermal power plant, named after the company's first president James Rockwell, operated between 1950 and December 14, 1973 when it was hit by a fire. In 1994, after protests from Makati residents against its reopening, the plant was decommissioned and subsequently converted by its owners into a modern commercial district. Construction on the shopping mall began in 1998 and was completed and opened on December 26, 2000.

Expansion of the mall

Beginning in 2014, Rockwell Land expanded the Power Plant Mall by adding another 5,700 square meters (61,000 sq ft) of additional leasable space, expanding the total retail floor area from 41,000 to 46,700 square meters (441,000 to 503,000 sq ft) with three additional floors, and two VIP cinema theaters.

The ground and second levels (R1 & R2) of the expansion opened in December 2017, while Cinemas 7 and 8 at Level R3 opened in January 2018. It is also connected to the luxury condominium development Balmori Suites, replacing the cancelled expansion of Aruga Hotel.

References

  1. ^ "Milestone of Rockwell Thermal Plant". Lopez Group of Companies. Retrieved May 13, 2014.
  2. ^ "The Fifth at Rockwell". The Fifth at Rockwell | Premiere Events Hall in Makati. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  3. ^ Rockwell (February 20, 2019). "Redefine Gatherings With The Fifth At Rockwell". E-Rockwell. Retrieved July 23, 2022.
  4. ^ Calalo, Arlie (June 13, 1993). "NAPOCOR pushes Rockwell opening". Manila Standard. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  5. ^ Austria, Jenniffer (May 25, 2015). "Rockwell Land buys Batangas property". Manila Standard. Retrieved May 1, 2022.
  6. ^ "The Saga of Rockwell's Power Plant Mall". The Urban Roamer. August 5, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2022.