With their first residential condominium project nearly sold out, Duros Land Properties, Inc. (DLPI) looks to invest P4 billion for a retirement community in Liloan town, northern Cebu.
DLPI president and chairman Rafaelito A. Barino said their first project, The Padgett Place in Molave Street in Lahug, Cebu City sold 80 percent of its units since it launched three years ago.
Barino said they initially got negative reaction even among friends when they launched The Padgett Place since they didn’t believe then that Cebu is ready for condominium living.
“Now they started realizing otherwise and started coming to me but I have limited units now,” he said.
The Padgett Place has 193 units and 40 units were turned over to the buyers who are either investors or those interested in living in Cebu City.
Barino said they also have a lot of foreign customers who bought units at The Padgett Place including a Japanese lady who bought two units which will be their second home.
Comfortable living
The lady said a lot of Japanese are now buying homes outside of Japan as their second retirement home since most people in Japan are already old.
Barino said that’s why they are building the five hectares retirement community in San Roque, Liloan town which they call Woodland Park Residence.
“Japan has an aging population and they like to live in a place where they feel safe and they can have a comfortable living. Cebu is seen as one but we don’t have much communities developed for this specific market yet,” Barino said.
Barino said they will build eight condominium towers in the area consisting of 1,500 units.
“We already applied for a certification from the Philippine Retirement Association for the project. This will be another first for our company,” he said.
Development period
He said they plan to officially launch the project by the first quarter of next year and start construction by second quarter.
Majority of the project area or 80 percent will be covered with wood hence the name Woodland Park Residences according to Barino.
“For this project, we are looking at a development period of five to 10 years,” he said.
DLPI also has an ongoing mountain resort in San Roque, Liloan called Liloan Golf and Leisure Estate.
Premium projects
Barino said the facility has a land area of 120 hectares which will soon have an 18-hole golf course that can host national events and about 10 percent residential site.
“By 2016, we should be done with the nine holes and about three to 10 hectares of the area will be donated for church-related community,” he said.
He said the company has a huge land bank which they can use for more premium projects for the market.
“We have 150 hectares land in Toledo, 60 hectares in Balamban and 20 hectares in Daanbantayan which includes a beachfront property,” he said.