Pacific Star Building
Buendia corner Makati Ave, Makati City
Completed: late 1980s?

Former tallest building in Makati before Rufino Tower.

white & black building on the corner of the intersection:
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d136/aLueZgAniZen/PHOTO.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/126/381200277_4bb9c5d0f5_o.jpg
Photo by Francesca Licup

Classic, timeless, I like.

Used to be visible from our roof when I was young, and I like it already back then.

^^yup, love that classic bldg... i think leandro locsin did that...

http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/1498/326533vs4.jpg
Photo from Emporis

http://images12.fotki.com/v214/photos/2/211814/2614038/dscn3641-vi.jpg
Photo by kcpaige (fotki)

I think Pacific Star is the first intelligent building in the country. It was the "coolest" office address before.

The owner of the building is Republic of Nauru, a tiny island state in the Pacific.

^that's an interesting factoid.. :okay:

^ Sure is! I wonder why they built it then...esp. during the Philippines' rough times.

Memorable building; that's where I took my TOEFL.

^ That must have been a looong time ago, ty;) hehehe j/k

^^LOL! 3rd quarter of 1999. Yeah, 7 years ago hehe:D

i don't think that's the only thing that makes it memorable to your Ka-Tyronne. Hehe...Sino kasabay mo? :D

Anyway, sometime last year, i was able to witness the fire drill of this building on my way to the office. me mga nagrarapel...and there are dummy smokes. fortunately for me i have my cam on my backpack. but when i opened my bag to get the batts, i haven't noticed my 2x500 bucks slip out. so there. i lose my 1000 pesos because of this tower.

oh by the way, i was not able to get any photo. :D
i guess they have their spotlights on sometimes. not sure tho what part of the year do they do that. i have some night shots. i'll post them later. :)

^^Oi si tatay lang kasama ko hehe! Memorable kasi first time ko talaga makaakyat ng building sa Makati haha! You know naman us na taga-province, excited makatuntong sa syudad LOL!:lol: Tapos I remember dumadaan-daan kami sa Petron Megaplaza, meron pang nagrarally that time eh. At noon pa napahanga na talaga ako sa ganda ng Petron Megaplaza. Tapos kumain kami ng tatay ko sa may Kenny Roger's na malapit din sa area na yun.

ah, makati ave na yung kenny rogers. ok si dad mo. supportive. meron na pala dating Petron Megaplaza. Malamang Far-East Bank Bldg pa dati yung tabi ng Pacific Star. Naalala ko tuloy kaibigan ko nung nag-apply ng work sa BPI Buendia Bldg. Sabi ko mag-antay siya ng jeepney sa me Petron pauwi. I was referring to Petron gas station across Pacific Star. He waited for long pero wala siyang biyaheng Zapoteng nasakyan. Kaya pala sa Petron Megaplaza nag-antay. Hehe...

^^LOL! :lol: Baka naakit din sa beauty ni Miss Petron Megaplaza kaya don napadpad haha! Mahilig din siguro sa buildings hehe!

siguro. pero naakit lang ata dahil sa impluwensiya ko. aba eh mas mahilig pa ako sa construction issued keysa sa kanya eh siya itong civil engineer. kaya naman me consultant ako pagdating sa mga technicalities of construction. when i asked him to join SSC, ayaw naman.

As promised. Here's something i took 3 Fridays ago from City Garden hotel
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p73719d84a08fda5487ffe2a352e8e229/ea760c2a.jpg

some more
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p29a372823fdc3555b479d44fe3922601/ea7610ee.jpg

^^Oi si tatay lang kasama ko hehe! Memorable kasi first time ko talaga makaakyat ng building sa Makati haha! You know naman us na taga-province, excited makatuntong sa syudad LOL!:lol: Tapos I remember dumadaan-daan kami sa Petron Megaplaza, meron pang nagrarally that time eh. At noon pa napahanga na talaga ako sa ganda ng Petron Megaplaza. Tapos kumain kami ng tatay ko sa may Kenny Roger's na malapit din sa area na yun.

Lies! Petron Megaplaza was not around in the 1930s! :lol: hahaha

whats that building between Pacific Star and Petron Megaplaza?

^^ I think that building was formerly Far East Bank's HQ before FEBTC was bought by BPI. Just don't know what it's called now.

^^ BPI Buendia Centre. But of course the FEBTC logo is still there. I think it's fully leased out too. Look at the lights. :)

http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/1498/326533vs4.jpg
Photo from Emporis

http://images12.fotki.com/v214/photos/2/211814/2614038/dscn3641-vi.jpg
Photo by kcpaige (fotki)

I think Pacific Star is the first intelligent building in the country. It was the "coolest" office address before.

The owner of the building is Republic of Nauru, a tiny island state in the Pacific.

http://www.refugeesinternational.org/files/2763_image1_nauruflag.gif

notice something? :lol:

^^ In the early 90's the name of Pacific Star was used alternatively with the Republic of Nauru building. Even until now, once I took a cab and I told the driver to take me to the Pacific Star building and he told me ... ah yung Nauru building! Some cab drivers are just so well informed. Go figure!

^cool! mas may alam pa sila hehe
makes me appreciate this 'scraper even more

Yeah--- Whenever I used to say Pacific Star, people I talk to say "Ah... doon ka sa Nauru."

My boss's boss had an office in one of the upper floors of Pacific Star. Had a view that was uninterrupted, going down to QC. Very nice.

In the lobby of the building there's an exhibit of what used to be Nauru's primary product-- it's only product really: phosphate. It was a giant ball of phosphate. The high phosphate content in Nauru was believed to be because in prehistoric times, plenty of dinosaurs pooped and their poop became today's phosphate. I think also that migratory birds pooped there too and all the combined bird poop became phosphate.

Their main industry on that small island nation was the mining of phosphate. It made them rich and able to buy expensive real estate all over the world, like that corner of Makati Ave. and Buendia. But the phosphate ran out. And now, that island's primary industry is no more. I mean no more because all the phosphate mining was done at the expense of all their other natural resources. No more topsoil-- it's all just empty rock. That country is a poster-child of poor environmental resource management and greed. It's actually a good example for other nations in the Pacific to look at, because Nauru's story is really a tragedy.

Anyway, today, because it no longer has any phosphate, Nauru's main industry is importation of prisoners. In exchange for housing Australia's criminals, Nauru gets aid.

Sad story huh?

^Sad but interesting story. so they still earn revenue from these investments overseas (like Pacific Star) eh?

^^I'm not sure if the Republic of Nauru still owns the building. During the height of its economic collapse, their government resorted to selling some of the prominent state-owned properties abroad, which includes the famous 52-story Nauru House in Melbourne.

It's sad to hear that unemployment is at a high of 90%in Nauru. The government can't even function because there are virtually no internally-generated income at all.

^^Nauru no longer owns Pacific Star... But looking at the bright side, their star is still there just like Fareast Bank's emblem on top of the BPI Buendia Center building. Remnants of their past...

As promised. Here's something i took 3 Fridays ago from City Garden hotel
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p73719d84a08fda5487ffe2a352e8e229/ea760c2a.jpg

cool pic!

hmp. isa lang nakaappreciate ng photo ko. hehe...thanks po ah.
napaka lungkot naman ng kwento ng Pacific Star. I've never heard anyone call that building Nauru until i read it here at SSC. Or perhaps I don't usually use cab to go there. Malapit na ito sa Citibank. Sometimes i am contemplating how huge this building is. With its height, it looks very fat. Does Nauru have anything to do with France? The French embassy is there. Or perhaps GB because they have some relationship with Australia?

^^ Don't worry. I like your shot of Pacific Star building too.:okay: So how was the City Garden Hotel?:| Looks like it has some decent views of Makati. Hey, is there still a Starbucks in the lobby of Pacific Star? I remember going to Ineng's across the street and then going to Pacific Star for a cup of coffee afterwards.

Yeah, i like it too. Everyone, including me were quietly amazed:)

^ yup, me too. :yes:

A quick research revealed that Nauru was under the administration of Australia, New Zealand, the UK before it became independent. BTW, is this the only building in the metro that is (or was) wholly owned by another country?

hehe...sorry guys. i'm in ksp state siguro. Kulang sa pansin.
@ terrapin, yes, there still is Starbucks at the ground floor. Meron na ring Chowking right beside Starbucks. There are several flags at the entrance of this tower, but i quite have no idea why these flags are there. I like it that way naman. City Garden has nice view specially of the traffic from down there. You have views of almost the whole stretch of Makati Avenue plus that of Kalayaan. This will sure have a vantage view of Century City. There's a small pool at the rooftop but it doesn't feel comfy taking a dip if there are several eyes staring at you - courtesy of the people dining. They serve foods up there, cooked somewhere below. You can also have views of some part of Rockwell and Fort Boni as well as Ortigas. The view of makati's supertalls is awesome from this tower, but posting them here is quite irrelevant to the thread topic. :) I'm referring to the view to the right of that ^^ photo.

There are several flags at the entrance of this tower, but i quite have no idea why these flags are there.

Could be the flags of countries having their emabassies there...

but there are too many flags. i only heard of maximum of 3 embassies up there.

@Francis - sige, you will have to arrange a photo safari tour of Makati. You know all the good photo locations.

hehe...a safari tour in makati's jungle of steel and glass.

:D not really sir. in fact, the best locations are the ones outside the main CBD. GA Tower is a good location. Our very own Sir Erwin, aka dvorak has a unit up there plus several others.

very off topic but here's the other views from City Garden
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p6f2a6591432067681a059303975d223f/ea591531.jpg

and to the right of the Pacific Star photo above. shrinked by imagestation. :( hope you like them. hehe...
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p4b1fec49efd1af7d5b93e84c23d725fa/ea590086.jpg

sorry for the glass reflections.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p1b9af9094e0fe661972f9eb6f54219f3/ea59153c.jpg

i assume city garden is directly facing the sunset.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/pbd9bb43cf9ad58e99fcb1f4d5cd62689/ea5913d3.jpg

nice photos. lovely view. i like this building too. para pang mini version ung pasukan.

nde ko makakalimutan yung karanasan ng sister ko jan sa Pacific Star Building...naawa ako na tawa ng tawa.Meron kasi syang client sa isang floor ng Pacific, cant remember lng kung anong floor. Pero lumagpas ng isang floor ung elevator kaya she decided to use the stairs instead, tutal isang floor lang nman pababa. As she saw the fire exit, she pushed this extra heavy the door. then nung nasa floor na sya na pupuntahan nya, she can't even open the door na. Lahat n ginawa nya para mabuksan ung door, pero wala talaga.. she went down to the first floor, and she found herself crying sa loob for about an hour, cguro akala na nakulong na sya, then umakyat sya ulit ng 5th floor saka may narinig n sya n nagbukas ng pinto. Nakita pala sya sa monitor sa ground floor ng building, paglabas...sinisi yung gwardiya..."Bakit ngayon ka lang??? sabay iyak...
Mahigpit daw kasi sila dahil maraming foreign embassies sa loob.. At ung nasa labas lang ng pinto ang pwedeng makapgbukas kaya un nakulong sya... hay....

Hmmm, am abit confused tho.. sabi ng tita ko even before that building was opened in 1986, may Pacific Star building na talaga nung 1960s sa Quiapo... So are they related? Kung ganon, kelan siya binili ng Nauru?

ganon naman talaga sa fire exits diba.. you can't open in from the inside.. dapat yung ordinary stairs lang ginamit nya not the fire exit...

nde ko makakalimutan yung karanasan ng sister ko jan sa Pacific Star Building...naawa ako na tawa ng tawa.Meron kasi syang client sa isang floor ng Pacific, cant remember lng kung anong floor. Pero lumagpas ng isang floor ung elevator kaya she decided to use the stairs instead, tutal isang floor lang nman pababa. As she saw the fire exit, she pushed this extra heavy the door. then nung nasa floor na sya na pupuntahan nya, she can't even open the door na. Lahat n ginawa nya para mabuksan ung door, pero wala talaga.. she went down to the first floor, and she found herself crying sa loob for about an hour, cguro akala na nakulong na sya, then umakyat sya ulit ng 5th floor saka may narinig n sya n nagbukas ng pinto. Nakita pala sya sa monitor sa ground floor ng building, paglabas...sinisi yung gwardiya..."Bakit ngayon ka lang??? sabay iyak...
Mahigpit daw kasi sila dahil maraming foreign embassies sa loob.. At ung nasa labas lang ng pinto ang pwedeng makapgbukas kaya un nakulong sya... hay....

ganon naman talaga sa fire exits diba.. you can't open in from the inside.. dapat yung ordinary stairs lang ginamit nya not the fire exit...


Highrise buildings usually have only one or two sets of stairs... the fire exit stairs, normally located at the building's core adjacent the elevators. And yes, they can only be opened from outside by pushing the fire exit device, kaya once you're in, you have to go down to ground level in order to get out.

you're all right. most have 2 sets of stairs. both of which are used as fire exits. be familiar with them, just in case there's a real fire in the building, you will know your way out. but it's a NO NO to use them during an earthquake.
Citibank's fire alarms will go off once you open the fire exit. And all of fire exits i know will can only be opened up from the inside. Unless you knock the door and chance upon a roaming guard.

this building would also fit NY! it's beautiful!

http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/1712/3071192di5.jpg
Photo by bravekn1ght (http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3071192)

that's a very nice photo. the columns are huge. they are lit with spotlights but i have no idea of the schedule.

^^yup, love that classic bldg... i think leandro locsin did that...

Gabriel Formoso & Partners was the architect way back then .... he was still alive noon.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1049/1378561762_4eec732ac2_b.jpg
Photo by Jun Acullador (http://www.flickr.com/photos/acullador/)

When I was a kid i thought this was really tall. Well look at it now, though still huge to look at.

Memorable bldg sa akin,...it reminds me sa A.G & P pa ako ..... i think year 1988 pa atah namin na turnover sa Republic of Nauro....medyo nagkakaedad natalaga :lol:those were the days^^

February 02, 2009

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q128/shyaman_king/HOLIDAY%202009%20-%20FEB%2002/DSC_0009a.jpg

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q128/shyaman_king/HOLIDAY%202009%20-%20FEB%2002/DSC_0040a.jpg

7.5/10 hindi kasi sya glassy tingnan...

voted 7/10 looks like one of the building in NY...very classy

7/10 din. Mga sikat na institusyon at kumpanya ang tenant ng pacific star.

8. Good building. Regards.

9/10.
I so love this building.
If it were taller, it would have been more iconic.

regular building 7/10

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3225/3014584535_c96997a5d9.jpg
by Marco Cabazal (http://www.flickr.com/photos/oktober/)

^^If I'm not mistaken, diyan ang opisina ng European Union or European Commission?

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/4523967018_f27ab4967e_o.jpg
by Stephen Alexander Yang (http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenalexanderyang/)

8,5/10 :okay:

8/10

7.5/10

9/10 :bow:

9/10

I love this building... The white painted cement with the brown/blask glass and the classic arc design, cobblestone walkways, and the flags up front... Timeless.

I still remember when I was young, it looked so tall for me, and at that time, this and the family savings tower are the only high rise that side of buendia. :)

7.5

Century Properties has a very beautiful office here. I have been to their main office and it looks fantastic.

7 out 10 :lol: