Makati City Area Guide

Makati is the place where enterprise soars and desires find new heights.

Makati is primarily a city for the condo dweller with its high-rise skyscrapers offering breathtaking views over Manila. Makati condo living has become one of the most desirable and sought-after lifestyles in the Philippines. Living in a Makati condo offers you the exhilaration and vibrancy of a chic, urban lifestyle together with all the advantages of living in the Central Business District of Manila.

All Makati condos also offer proximity to many world-class shopping locales such as Greenbelt, with its boutique shops,fine-dining restaurants, gorgeous gardens and its plethora of entertainment facilities, clubs and bars, captivating residents and visitors alike.

Would-be residents can find condos for sale and rent in Legaspi and Salcedo, beautiful and leafy villages within Makati, both within walking distance to the CBD and shopping centers. Search our properties for further insight into the exclusivity, the status and the rewards of Makati condo living.

The City of Makati, or simply Makati, is one of the cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila, the greater metropolitan area of the national capital of the Philippines. It is the major financial, commercial and economic hub in the Philippines, often referred to as the financial capital of the Philippines since many global companies have their offices and headquarters in the city. Makati is also home to the influential Makati Business Club and the Philippine Stock Exchange. Ayala Avenue, running through the heart of downtown Makati Central Business District is often called the Wall Street of the Philippines.

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.

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, 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 Nikko, 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.

Many of the country's wealthiest families live in North and South Forbes Park, originally developed in 1948, and Dasmariñas Village, originally developed in the 1960s, on the other side of EDSA from the Central Business District. Other well-to-do people live in San Lorenzo Village, Urdaneta Village, Bel-Air Village, Palm Village, Magallanes Village, and San Miguel Village. Others live in condominiums and apartment units in the Central Business District of Salcedo Village, Legazpi Village and San Antonio Village. These "villages" are not rural settlements, but gated communities.

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, Jupiter Suites (Jupiter Arms Hotel) and The Oxford Suites are gaining in popularity among business-minded travelers as well.

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. 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, Commonwealth Insurance Company (CIC), 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. Asiana Airlines operates a sales office on the sixth floor of the Salcedo Tower in Makati City.