August 8, 2018: Jose Soberano, CEO Cebu Landmasters Inc.(2nd from right) and Jose Franco Soberano, COO Cebu Landmasters (right) unveils the Astra Center Together with Architects Norman Garden and Rolando Mercado. A lifestyle, residential condominium and office buildings at AS Fortuna in Mandaue City. (CDN photo/ TOnee Despojo)
With Astra Centre launch, Cebu Landmasters CEO: Mixed-use projects are the way to go for the firm
“Mixed-use projects, integrated developments are the waves of the future for Cebu Landmasters.”
Jose Soberano III, Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) chief executive officer, shared the publicly-listed real estate company’s thrust during the launching of its second mixed-use project on Wednesday (August 8) — the Astra Centre.
The P3.6 billion project will rise along A.S. Fortuna Street in Mandaue City and will feature a mall, residential condominium and the first Radisson RED hotel in the Philippines.
Astra Centre is the company’s second full-range mixed used property after Base Line Center in Cebu City, which was launched in 2015.
Base Line consists of a residential condominium, hotel, office and business process outsourcing (BPO) space.
Soberano said more mixed-use projects will be located in Davao, Cagayan De Oro, Bacolod and Iloilo.
The Astra Centre project in Mandaue City is the CLI’s move to address the need for integrated developments in the metropolis where people live and work.
Soberano said the Astra Centre would have two towers rising from one podium that would be located in a 1.2 hectare lot on A.S. Fortuna Street.
The project will be developed in two phases.
Phase 1 will include the construction of the three-level boutique mall called Astra Centre Mall and the 30-floor Tower 1 which will have the residential condominium, One Astra Place and the first Radisson Red Hotel in the Philippines.
“You will be seeing more of this kind of development in our projects across Visayas and Mindanao,” said Soberano noting CLI’s project portfolio in Davao, Cagayan De Oro, Bacolod and Iloilo.
“You will be seeing more of this kind of development in our projects across Visayas and Mindanao,” said Soberano noting CLI’s project portfolio in Davao, Cagayan De Oro, Bacolod and Iloilo.
Retail
Astra Centre Mall will be an upscale three-level boutique mall with 8,300 square meters of leasable space.
Its highlight features are outdoor dining and retail stores located in a paseo connected to a sunken garden, cinemas and supermarket. It will also have an atrium with a high ceiling.
“We are looking at a mixture of local and foreign tenants. We consider this as a community mall, where the residents of the condo can just come down and do their shopping and other leisure activities,” said Soberano.
Radisson
In a press conference held last August 8, Soberano also announced that the first Radisson RED hotel in the Philippines will be located in Astra Centre.
The hotel will have 146 rooms and will be operated by the Radisson Hotel Group.
Radisson RED promises a unique design and upscale service offerings which will be informal, aspirational and targeted towards the millennial generation.
The hotel will have 24/7 facilities, high-speed wifi, grab-and-go food and beverage options and statement art pieces.
Katerina Giannouka, president of Radisson Hotel Group for Asia Pacific, said they are looking forward to introduce a new era of hospitality in the Philippines.
“Cebu City is the perfect location to introduce Radisson RED to the Philippines, being a dynamic urban center with a youthful vibe and positive outlook,” Giannouka said in a statement.
Integrated
CLI’s move to develop mixed-use projects resonates with the November 2017 study of Colliers International Philippines Research which emphasized the need for property developers to pursue mixed-used communities projects to address the needs of a discriminating market like Cebu.
Colliers noted that these projects “integrate the live-work-play lifestyle and provide a better value proposition than stand-alone projects since they offer mixed-use developments such as office, residential, retail even institutional.”
Franco Soberano, CLI chief operating officer, said excavations have started for the project, which took two years to work on before they were finally able to launch it to the public.
The younger Soberano said they target to open the lifestyle mall in 2021 while continuing construction and development of the other project components.
Franco said A.S. Fortuna is a special location for the homegrown property firm because they embarked on a two-tower residential condominium called Midori Residences in the same area. The project was launched on September 2012.
Aside from these developments, Jose Soberano III said that the company had also been committed to develop socialized housing with the cities of Bogo and Carcar as two project sites in their portfolio.
