The innovative Sun City development has set new industry standards and exceeded expectations.

Ground-breaking developments, from retail, office and leisure complexes to residential and hospital projects demonstrate the potential to be realized in Guayaquil

NE OF the most emblematic signs of Guayaquil’s rebirth is the city’s flourishing real estate sector. The rise of new office towers and residential and commercial buildings is becoming a constant image etched on the cityscape. At the center of this flurry of activity is Pronobis, the real estate arm of Ecuador’s powerful Nobis Group. The company’s Sun City development is a Guayaquil benchmark, and has set new industry standards in Ecuador while establishing the Pronobis name throughout Latin America as a world-class, innovative developer with a sharp insight into market trends.

Located within a stone’s throw of Guayaquil’s international airport, Sun City contains 15 developments comprising office and retail space, internationally renowned hotel chains, bars and restaurants, and also a casino. Sun City draws nearly 1.5 million visitors each month, and the centerpiece of the development is the flagship Sun Mall, Ecuador’s largest shopping center. Since its construction in 1997, the 114,000-square foot shopping and entertainment complex has been the reference in the country for large commercial developments, and has had a snowball effect on the construction of other malls in Guayaquil. Sun Mall boasts more than 250 stores along with Ecuador’s largest food court, and has one of the highest sales volumes among the country’s shopping centers. In addition, the mall is currently being expanded with a new wing and over 40 new stores in preparation for the influx of U.S. retailers that the impending free trade agreement will bring.

CÉSAR MESA MALDONADO Executive President of Pronobis

Other Pronobis developments in Sun City include a Sheraton Four Points hotel, a Howard Johnson’s hotel, the Executive Center and the Professional Center office towers. It also features the Sun Tower apartment-suite building, the Sun Casino, the Sun Square Entertainment Center, and the company’s most recent addition, the Equilibrium Center – a novel concept in urban living that comprises esthetic, fitness and alternative medicine facilities. Pronobis Executive President César Mesa Maldonado says that Sun City was conceived from the beginning as a “city within a city” and that the support of Mayor Nebot has been instrumental in the development’s success. “Sun City is more than just a tribute to the city of Guayaquil and the mayor’s urban regeneration. Since we began construction on the Sun Mall in 1997, we knew that its strategic city location near the airport would generate a development pole here. However, it has exceeded even our expectations, and we would not have achieved it without the support of Mayor Nebot and the citizens of Guayaquil,” he states.

Nobis founder Luis Noboa Naranjo said that the company works for the emotion of creating, and nowhere is this more apparent than in Pronobis’s Equilibrium Center, which was conceived by the company after observing the growth in recent years of beauty centers, spas, and gyms and the growing popularity of oriental philosophies in healthcare across the globe. The pioneering Equilibrium Harmony Center places professionals from all these fields under one roof in an eight-story, modern commercial center dedicated exclusively to alternative healthcare and beauty. Designed as a franchise, the center has garnered a great deal of interest both nationally and internationally. Mr. Mesa says that a second center is planned for Quito in the near future and agreements are in the works for others in Buenos Aires in Argentina, and in Medellin and Barranquilla in Columbia.

Another ground-breaking Pronobis project in the pipeline for Sun City is the Omni Hospital, which is being financed through an innovative stock scheme that allows shareholders, among who are many of the hospital’s future medical professionals, to receive reduced rates for medical services and other benefits from the hospital while obtaining annual dividends from its market listing.

“The Omni Hospital is our first real estate project that allows the future customer to own part of it. The investors are also the future clients of the hospital where they will benefit from preferential treatment. We have placed 67 percent of the project’s shares on the stock market to date, and they have been very successful,” comments Mr. Mesa. “This way, the business is 100 percent profitable and it helps to meet Guayaquil’s need for more hospital services.” He adds that the hospital, which will have 112 beds, 10 operating rooms and the latest in medical technology, will be run by an international management team with experience in the Latin American healthcare sector, thus ensuring its efficient operation and maximum profit for shareholders.

With so many large projects underway in the city, Guayaquil offers plentiful opportunities for investors, according to Mr. Mesa, who urges U.S. investors to consider the city as a destination. He observes, “In the last five years we have carried out numerous projects in a city that is undergoing rapid development and now the doors will be flung wide open with the U.S.-Ecuador free trade agreement. This is really a country full of opportunities and investors should take a look at what it has to offer.”