By Jason de Asis
BALER, Aurora, Feb. 15 (PNA)–NE Baler, the first shopping mall cum commercial complex in the province is now under a new management.
Retail magnate Lucio Co of the Puregold Price Club, Inc. (PPCI) has acquired ownership of the mall after it was sold by NE Group of Companies exactly a year of its operation.
It can be recalled that NE Group of Companies president Leticia Uy led the inauguration of the NE Baler mall and commercial complex in February 2013.
NE Baler sits on a one-hectare site in Purok 7, Barangay Suklayin , with a supermarket in the ground floor and a restaurant in the second floor.
It has 4,000 square meter parking space that can accommodate 200 cars and is similar to NE Crossing in Sangitan, Cabanatuan City.
As a result, Puregold has strengthened its foothold in Luzon with the acquisition of NE Baler as one of the nine supermarkets and five commercial properties owned by NE Group of Companies.
Puregold’s newly-acquired supermarkets from NE Group of Companies are located in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija; San Jose, Nueva Ecija; Baliwag, Bulacan; Baler, Aurora, and Santiago, Isabela.
The five commercial properties—land with buildings and improvements— are at the following addresses: Zulueta St., Cabanatuan City; San Jose City, Nueva Ecija; San Juan Accfa, Cabanatuan City; Baler, Aurora, and Santiago City, Isabela
However, Puregold will retain its present name NE Baler for it is well known in the province.
The NE Group of Companies put up its first mall in Cabanatuan City in 1983, housing a supermarket, cinemas, a fast food center, a recreation center, boutiques, drug stores and other shops operated by tenants.
In 1996, NE-Pacific Mall in partnership with Landco Pacific Development Corporation was opened and in 2008, a branch of Robinsons Mall was set up beside NE-Pacific Mall through a business partnership.
The NE Group of companies later expanded and set up a chain of malls, super bodegas and restaurants in Gapan City and San Jose City, both in Nueva Ecija; Baliuag and Sta. Maria, both in Bulacan; Santiago City and Cauayan City, both in Isabela; in North Edsa; catering service in San Juan, Metro Manila and overseas in Torrance, California. (PNA)