‘Take advantage of township projects’

Joey Bonjoc, Colliers International Philippines research manager, says that the trend today in the property sector is for local developers to acquire and develop properties inside township projects or master planned communities like the Ayala Business
Center. CDN FILE PHOTO

Developers told: This is the way to continue riding Cebu’s property wave

Homegrown developers are encouraged to acquire lots within large master-planned communities to take advantage of existing public infrastructure and utilities.

Property management and research firm Colliers International Philippines, in a report, stated that this is one way for local developers to ride on the continued growth of the property sector in the province.

“By building residential and office towers within the master-planned communities or business hubs developed by national players, local developers are able to maximize transportation network and other infrastructure built by major developers,” Colliers said in its latest news release.

In fact, several Cebu-based developers have already started doing this for years now.

They cited Skyrise Realty with its Skyrise 4 Building; Apple One Properties with its Apple One Tower; and Innoland with its The Link and Calyx Residences which have built properties in Ayala’s Cebu Business Park and Cebu IT Park.

Township projects

According to Joey Bondoc, research manager at Colliers, this has become the trend in Metro Manila now.

Townships are now cropping up and being developed by national and major developers.

Even areas outside Metro Manila, he said, are being looked into for new township projects.

Bondoc cited areas like Pampanga, Cavite, Laguna which are being reached already by developers like Ayala Land, Vista Land, Filinvest, and Megaworld among others.

And for these developers, Colliers said Cebu is the most feasible area outside of Luzon for them to put up more of these integrated and master-planned communities.

“Don’t just build standalone buildings. The demand is changing. You want to attract and retain talent so you need to have communities that integrate important aspects of communities,” Bondoc told Cebu Daily News in an interview on Thursday afternoon.

So, aside from acquiring lots, Colliers has also recommended other ways for local developers to take advantage of Cebu’s burgeoning property sector.

Recommendations

These recommendations include firming up partnership with global property management firms, focusing on high-quality projects; and implementing a unique development mix with national developers.

According to Colliers, local firms, especially those with limited property management experiences should consider tapping international real estate management services companies to take advantage of global standard of service.

Property management firms, they said, can handle the daily operations of residential and office buildings including management, supervision, improvement and upkeep of facilities. These firms can also supervise the technical operations and maintenance of the projects’ building equipment and manage financial aspects of its operation.

“We believe that a property’s value is retained only if a building is properly maintained. Some high-end projects do not sustain their premium because of bad management and upkeep,” he said.

Local developers that have recently signed a deal with Colliers International Philippines’ property management arm is Taft Properties for its condominium development project Horizons 101 which is considered to be Cebu’s tallest condominium development.

Collier’s partners

Colliers is also the partner of other firms including Grand Land, Norkis Cyberpark, Park Tower One Condominium, Avenir, Robinsons Land, Arcab Properties, Worldwide Properties, Landtraders World Properties, Enrison Holdings, Fuzionland, and HT Land.

For local developers who own large parcels of land but are constrained by their lack of expertise in developing integrated communities, the property management and research firm also recommended selling individual lots to national developers while retaining the bigger part of the land holdings.

Those with massive landbank, they said, should allow other firms to pursue their own pockets of development as long as the projects are aligned with the local developer’s design guidelines.

“This should result in a more interesting development mix and landscape for the entire integrated community,” Colliers reported.

However, even without partnerships with national or regional developers, a number of local players have done well in Cebu through their high-quality projects, Colliers noted.

Among these developers are Innoland. Following the take up of its Calyx Residences and leasing of its The Link and Calyx office towers, the Cebu-based firm is setting aside P7 billion (or US$137 million) for the construction of a three-tower, mixed-use complex named Montage.

The project is located in a 1.3-hectare property along Archbishop Reyes Avenue. The project is estimated to offer 40,000 square meters of office space, 7,000 square meters of leasable space, as well as either a residential or hospitality component.

On the other hand, in 2010, Cebu Landmasters Inc. developers its first vertical project, Asia Premier Residences at the Cebu IT Park. Colliers noted that the homegrown developer was initially into horizontal residential projects but its entry into vertical development recorded strong take up, owing to the quality and strong sales of their previous horizontal projects in Talisay City and Minglanilla town.

“Colliers International Philippines sees Cebu’s contribution to the country’s economic output surging over the next five to ten years given its rising attractiveness as an investment hub and the development of crucial air and road infrastructure projects which should significantly bring down the cost of doing business in the region,” the report stated.

“We also see Cebu benefiting from the Duterte administration’s decentralization thrust or the spread of economic opportunities outside of Metro Manila,” it further stated.