BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The 15-hectare Forbes Hill, Bacolod City’s premier residential village located inside the Northill Gateway, marks the merriest time of the year as it dazzles in a spectacle of lights, Christmas trees, and lighted parols, on November 13 with the switch on ceremony led by Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
The Northill Gateway, a Megaworld’s 53-hectare township, is located at the boundary of Bacolod City and Talisay City along the New Bacolod-Silay Airport Access Road.
The parols are actually handcrafted by inmates from the city’s Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP). The Christmas icons were made part of the attraction to support the inmates’ livelihood program.
The attraction, which is located at The Clubhouse in Forbes Hill, officially marks the start of a fun-filled month on this side of the city.
The houses being built inside Forbes Hill after residential lots, ranging from 449 square meters up to 861 square meters were recently sold out. The village hosts less than 200 lots and offers fantastic and refreshing views of the Negros mountains and the surrounding sugarcane plantations.
Future residents will be welcomed by wide, open spaces, and roads soon to be lined by trees, both evoking an uncanny resemblance to Europe’s stunning courtyards and neighborhoods.
There’s also an iconic giant fountain surrounded by a garden just outside the village’s gates, reminiscent of the water fountains found in many centuries-old Negros mansions owned by sugar barons, Megaworld said in a statement it issued.
Bacolod’s first-ever McDonald’s NXTGen
Another much-anticipated ‘first’ will be unraveled by Megaworld soon at Northill Gateway.
The property giant recently announced the exciting news that the first-ever McDonald’s NXTGen store in Negros Occidental will be coming soon to Northill Gateway. The first-of-its-kind store will be located a mere few steps away from the main gate of Forbes Hill and just beside the iconic Las Vegas-inspired Bacolod City Welcome Marker—another first in the Philippines.
“We are excited to have our own unique and first-in-the-province McDonald’s NXTGen store right in front of our Forbes Hill residential village. This will really make the entire township even more promising as this heralds the start of our vibrant commercial developments within Northill Gateway. Our plan is to open this Megaworld-owned store just in time for Christmas,” according to Jennifer Palmares-Fong, vice president for sales and marketing, Megaworld Visayas.
The store, which is just less than 20 minutes away from the Bacolod-Silay Airport, will also have a green wall, an expansive alfresco dining area, its own McCafe, as well as the city’s first-ever ‘Bike and Dine’ facility. It will also offer Delivery Services.
The free-standing McDonald’s NXTGen in Northill Gateway will offer fantastic and refreshing views of the surrounding sugarcane plantations and the Negros mountain ranges, especially on a clear day. Featuring a modern industrial design, the store will showcase innovations, such as Self-Ordering Kiosks and Drive-Thru Services with Hand-held Order Taking System.*
