The first tenant to enter the NBS Park directory was Engkanto Taps. The founders of the Manila-born brewery had been looking for a more accessible venue to house their latest taproom, and the then-unopened park showed promise. At the time, NBS Park was more of a thought than a tangible place — it was still the empty warehouse that once housed most of National Book Store’s inventory. But the retail chain was keen to turn the 40-year-old building into Manila’s newest creative hub, and so they spent the years after the COVID-19 pandemic remodeling it and overhauling it.
The idea was always to create a place that encouraged creativity among its tenants, but that hope only solidified when more occupants began setting up shop at NBS Park. After Engkanto Taps officially signed on, early tenants included the warmly lit casual dining joint Pluck, the cold brew-focused cafe Type A Coffee, and contemporary art galleries 125 Projects and Gajah Gallery, to name just a few. There’s also a virtual minigolf station, a handful of design stores (DNa and Porcelanosa), and an upcoming cigar library that’s part of another wave of creative renters hoping to leave their own marks at the park.
However, for Adrian Ramos, National Book Store Group’s CEO and president, the park still reminds him of the warehouse he knew growing up. “This place has been here my whole life, but I’m actually older than it by four years,” he quipped as he sat down for our interview.
Opened in 1982, the old warehouse was built right next to National Book Store’s main headquarters. Crates upon crates of inventory found their way into the roughly 6,000-square-meter warehouse until 2019, when it became so cramped that the company decided to empty it out and run new warehouses from Muntinlupa
and Laguna. This left Ramos and his brother, National Book Store Retail Group chairman Gerard Anton, with a very empty warehouse and no idea what to do with it. “We weren’t sure if it was going to be a total teardown or something else,” said Ramos. “And the pandemic got in the way, too.”
The ball officially began rolling when the Ramoses met with architect Sarah Canlas of Greener & Partners, along with the owners of Engkanto, to see if the brewery founders would be interested in renting out a space in the warehouse on Pioneer Street. “National Book Store has always been about creativity and learning, so our mission with [NBS Park] was to provide spaces where people can live balanced lives. In a digital world, how do you keep creating? How do you keep having hands-on moments, tactile experiences? So that was really the idea behind it.”
The brothers and Canlas made quick work of revamping the warehouse, finding inspiration in the creative hubs of places like the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. Locally, they turned to The Alley at Karrivin and its concept of reclaiming old industrial spaces for more artistic pursuits. When it came to choosing the park’s tenants, Ramos recalled focusing on creatives who could provide more “niche” experiences. “We were really hoping for unique tenants,” he said. “Ideally, people can find more unique experiences here.”
On her part, Canlas focused on recommending tenants who ran in her own creative circles and were looking for storefronts that would help them connect with their clientele. “These are all friends of ours, and so for very practical reasons, we’ve all always worked well with each other,” Canlas said.
Canlas also noted that the tenants currently at NBS Park aren’t creatives who are still finding their footing. The three founders of Pluck, for instance — Los Tacos’ Patrick Curitana, Scratch’s Ralph Sy, and Toka Wine’s Butz Tenchavez — all established their own F&B concepts before collaborating together. “Here, it’s not ‘startups’ anymore,” Canlas joked. “Parang may maturity na ang mga creatives sa [NBS Park]. We’re not idealistic anymore!” This mindset, according to Canlas, has helped add a sense of sustainability to the park. “They’re all focused na on opening and [keeping] shop.”
Perhaps it’s that same maturity that has helped the park’s current tenants build closer connections among themselves over the past few months. “‘Yung community talaga sa NBS Park, that’s been the best part,” 125 Projects founder Gwen Bautista told me. You’ll really feel that people really come here to connect with each other.”
Beyond running 125 Projects, Bautista has also been helping curate the different art pieces around NBS Park, in line with the NBS public art program. Currently, Bautista is busy putting up a mixed media mural installation by Pepe Delfin in the park’s main hallway, but she’s already put together a video exhibition display of Ronyel Compra’s work located right by Type A Coffee, as well as a triptych of photographer Richard Prince’s controversial screenshots of SuicideGirls’ Instagram posts placed right outside 125 Projects.
“NBS Park really wants to support the art community,” said Bautista. “There are a lot of areas here in the park where you can sit down, reflect on things, and think about the art you’ve seen. We are in the process of installing and displaying works that are on loan from NBS Park’s collection, and that includes contemporary works from Filipino artists and those abroad.”
Although NBS Park’s doors are now officially open, development at the hub is far from over. According to Ramos, walls will be punched down to make way for new stores (an “exciting” list which the National Book Store president is still keeping quiet about for good measure). But he’s more focused on keeping NBS Park afloat.
“In a space like this, you start thinking about ‘vision,’ or ‘curation,’ but those are sexy things to think about,” he joked. “There are other things to worry about — the business side of everything, the operation side. You need to think about traffic flow, Internet, even mobile signal! It’s those little details that matter, and most people take them for granted. You need to think about the small things.”
“There’s so much going [on] here, so yes, it’s non-stop construction,” Canlas said half-jokingly. “Parang we’re planting the seeds pa, but it’s a constant… kasi we don’t have deep pockets. We’re not an Ayala Land, or anything like that. We’re all creatives.”
Despite the constant renovation, Canlas sees a bright future ahead for NBS Park. To the architect, the space’s mission has always been to uplift Manila’s creative scene. “The reason we took the challenge [with NBS Park] was to serve the community we’re in,” said Canlas. “I think as a developer, that’s what I’m trying to do, and to convince more people to do: to participate in their milieu. It’s about adding value to your community.”
This story first appeared in the Rolling Stone Philippines’ Voices Issue, now available on Sari-sari Shopping and in major newsstands.
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