Retirement Developers Urged: Go Upscale

November 24, 2012, 11:51am

The foreign chambers-led Retirement and Healthcare Coalition (RHC) advised Philippine developers to start graduating towards the development of full-fledge retirement villages.

The RHC, led by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP), said that property developers should look beyond mere “sleeping quarters” as other countries in the region have already went ahead with their own infrastructure build-up to get a bigger share in the ballooning silver market.

RHC executive director Marc Daubenbuechel said developers in the country should not just sit back and take foreign retirees for granted because by 2030, 25 percent of the world’s population will be comprised of the silver market.

“The increasing numbers of retirees that are looking for homes outside their own countries are increasing each year.  The Philippines must be able to cater to their needs for retirement communities that fit their lifestyle,” Daubenbuechel said.

Daubenbuechel lamented that property developers are currently contented in offering “sleeping quarters” that do not have vital components that pertain to leisure, entertainment, health, and wellness of foreign retirees.

To further promote and assist in the development of the country as a prime retirement destination, the RHC has been holding a series of seminars and forums with key players in the industry including the upcoming “Senior Residences in Asia: The Fundamentals” slated November 27 in Makati City.

“There should be a deeper understanding of how the players in the local industry should move forward,” Daubenbuechel said.

In partnership with the Philippine Retirement Authority and endorsed by the Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce, the forum will discuss return on investments, various business models, and the key concepts within the retirement industry.

Among the resource persons confirmed include CB Richard Ellis chief executive officer Frederick Santos, Hotel Resort Development Corp - Managing Director Jean Luc Kebers, and Palafox Associates president Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr.

Aside from the ECCP, the RHC also counts the American, Japanese, and Korean chambers of commerce as its members.

When in Cebu City, please visit http://www.gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.

Avail of the opportunity to own a condominium unit in Cebu City together with your own parking space at the low amount of only P12,000.00+ and House and Lot @ P 7,306.81/month only. Hurry while supply of units still last. Just call the Tel. Nos. shown herein: (053)555-84-64/09164422611/09173373687.

                  

P560M realty tax projected

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By Jujemay G. Awit

Saturday, November 24, 2012

THIRTY years ago, there were no major developments in Barangays Lahug and Talamban, save for the Cebu Plaza Hotel in Nivel Hills.

But this year alone, 13 new commercial establishments are about to rise in Talamban, based on the applications for building permits submitted to the Office of the Building Official (OBO).

Barangays Apas and Lahug, which also share the Asiatown IT Park, have 24 commercial developments between them.

Cebu City Assessor Eustaquio Cesa estimates that the real properties in Cebu City for this year will gain for the City P560 million in real property taxes next year, an increase of 45 percent year-on-year.

The increase in the estimated real property tax will come mainly from the new buildings cropping up at the IT Park.

Moving

From 1982 to 2012, one of the most visible signs of change in Cebu City is its skyline.

Mayor Michael Rama, the longest serving elected official without interruption for 20 years, remembered that in the 1970s to early 1980s, development was mostly in the downtown area.

Records from the OBO, which the Office of the City Administrator made available for Sun.Star Cebu, affirm the mayor’s statement.

In 1982 alone, applications for commercial building permits were centered on Colon St., M.J. Cuenco, and C. Padilla.

A few other developments were on F. Ramos, Mabolo and Don Gil Garcia.

But in 2012, aside from Barangays Apas, Lahug and Talamban, developments are mostly in what was considered the uptown area in the 1990s.

There have also been major developments in Barangays Kamputhaw, Guadalupe, Capitol Site and Kasambagan. Other developments are in Cebu Business Park and Barangay Luz area.

SRP action

Cebu Business Park started with one mall in 1994 but today, construction is ongoing for various residential condominiums and high-rise office buildings.

Change is also visible at the South Road Properties (SRP), which was developed in 1995 with an international loan. The first two developers of the projects are SM Prime Holdings Inc. and Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI).

Both developers intend to build a commercial and residential condominium in the area. Between them, 11 applications for commercial building permits were filed this year.

In 1982, the SRP was a body of water.

Increasingly, commercial developments are catching up to residential projects, which still account for a majority of new buildings in the city.

In 1982, there were 483 applications for building permits. Of this number, 390 were for residential buildings, while 61 were for commercial establishments. The rest were institutional, industrial and “other construction.”

About 80 percent of the structural development in Cebu City then was residential.

Booming

Between 1996 and 2005, when 15,619 building permits were applied for, 66 percent were for residential, while 23 percent were already for commercial developments.

In 2012, of the 892 business permits issued, 251 or 28 percent are for commercial developments. These include Marco Polo Residences, FLI’s residential condominiums, one of SM’s buildings for its Seaside City, office buildings at IT Park and many others.

Even the mountain barangay of Bacayan is a beneficiary of the city’s development; it is where Aboitiz Land’s Pristina North is located.

Last year, Sun.Star Cebu did a story that quoted the National Economic Development Authority as saying the construction industry is booming in Central Visayas.

Between 2011 and 2015, 30 medium- and high-rise buildings are expected to be built in Cebu City alone. The Seaside City is considered the biggest construction project and is pegged to be a P20-billion integrated development.

The highest building is projected to be Horizons 101 Towers 1 and 2 along Gen. Maxilom Ave., by Taft Properties. The first tower will have 55 floors while the second will have 46.

Back to Colon

Five of the 30 buildings are said to have over 30 floors—Horizon’s two towers, the 30-story GT Tower on Fuente Osmeña, 33-storey Ultima Residences Tower 4 and the 30-story Calyx Residences at the Cebu Business Park.

The growth is attributed to the strong demand for business process outsourcing (BPO) and tourism-related facilities and services in Cebu City.

But even if property developments have shifted from the downtown area to uptown and then to the Cebu Business Park and IT Park, Rama and some Cebuano business owners worked together for the Downtown Revitalization Program.

This December, the program will feature night markets on the stretch of Colon St., which the City will close to vehicular traffic.

The aim is to bring the people back to Colon, where businesses continue to survive, far from the shadows of the city’s emerging high-rises.

When in Cebu City, please visit http://www.gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.

Avail of the opportunity to own a condominium unit in Cebu City together with your own parking space at the low amount of only P12,000.00+ and House and Lot @ P 7,306.81/month only. Hurry while supply of units still last. Just call the Tel. Nos. shown herein: (053)555-84-64/09164422611/09173373687.

                                                            

The Courtyards Banawa - CEBU PRIME INVESTMENT

The Courtyards Banawa - CEBU PRIME INVESTMENT

When in Cebu City, please visit http://www.gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.

Avail of the opportunity to own a condominium unit in Cebu City together with your own parking space at the low amount of only P12,000.00+ and House and Lot @ P 7,306.81/month only. Hurry while supply of units still last. Just call the Tel. Nos. shown herein: (053)555-84-64/09164422611/09173373687.

New real estate firm to spend P450M for project

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By Katlene O. Cacho

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

A NEW player in the real estate industry is going to spend P450 million for the first phase of its two-tower mid-rise building in Banawa.

The amount will also finance development of amenities including swimming pools, a sky garden, a day care center, and a fitness and family entertainment center, according to Sharon Ann Ong, Worldwide Central Properties Inc. (WCPI) vice president for marketing and sales.

WCPI is the real estate arm and a sister company of Worldwide Steel Group and Worldwide Hope Depot, founded just this year.

WCPI president Kent Ong said the real estate company is meant to complement the family’s existing businesses. The family has been in the construction industry for 36 years.

“The mission now is to build communities,” Kent said in a press conference yesterday.

“We are taking these further, not just in providing construction materials but also building homes for families.”

Sharon said the company’s entry into real estate was spurred by Cebu’s booming economy, driven by the continued growth in the business processing industry and the strong inflows of overseas remittances.

“We believe growth in the industry will continue in the coming years, given the good and stable economic environment we have,” she said.

Their flagship project, named Sundance Residences, sits on a 3,200-square meter property in Banawa. It is a 12-storey medium-rise building whose first tower will initially have 208 units. The Phase one of the construction is scheduled in the second quarter in 2013. Completion and delivery of units is scheduled in 2015.

Sharon said the residential building will cater to the middle to upper-mid market, specifically start-up families living near Capitol, Guadalupe and Banawa.

She said that in Cebu, Guadalupe is one of the most populated areas with six percent or 50,000 of Cebu’s population living there. “We felt that it was high time to have a medium-rise building in that area given also the huge housing backlog,” Sharon said.

Sundance Residences will have studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. Unit prices start at P1.8 million.

Optimistic about the continued growth in the real estate industry, Kent announced that the company is also exploring opportunities in building a horizontal housing development in a two-hectare property in Mactan.

He said the project, which is still on the planning stage, will have 300 units and will be constructed in phases by the second half of 2013.

WCPI has tapped tarchitect Antonio Trillanes Jr. to head the design team and Kenneth Cobonpue to handle the interior design for Sundance Residences.

When in Cebu City please visit http://www.gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.

Avail of the opportunity to own a condominium unit in Cebu City together with your own parking space at the low amount of only P12,000.00+ and House and Lot @ P 7,306.81/month only. Hurry while supply of units still last. Just call the Tel. Nos. shown herein: (053)555-84-64/09164422611/09173373687.

Skyline, facades mirror changes in taste, means

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By Princess Dawn H. Felicitas

Saturday, November 24, 2012

WOOD gave way to steel. One-story buildings soared to become high-rise towers. And plain old architecture is transforming into green architecture.

Changes in building trends have kept pace with the growth of Cebu City’s real estate industry in the past three decades.

Engr. Willy Tiu Go, owner of the WTG Construction and Development Corp., has witnessed the structural changes in the city since 1982.

Go, who started his construction company in that decade, said buildings constructed 30 years ago were mostly single-storey, “straightforward” projects.

“They were very simple. Patag ra. Di pa gyud uso ang medium-rise or high-rise sa una (They were mostly one level; medium-rise or high-rise buildings were not the trend then),” he said.

The use of construction materials has evolved, along with building design.

In the 1980s, complex shapes as well as intricate and detailed carvings—almost Baroque, in some cases—were favored.

Now, however, Go said most of the buildings are high-rise structures over 15 levels high, which have significantly changed the city’s skyline.

Although cement continues to be used, most buildings’ façades are now coated with cladding or sheets for a sharper look, he said.

Because of the effects of climate change, engineering trends now give more emphasis on green infrastructure, which means designing buildings that will adapt to weather changes.

“Solar panels are now being used and buildings are naturally ventilated,” he said.

Similar observations were offered by the City Government’s Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW).

Engr. June Nadine Sison, who heads the DEPW’s construction division, said designs and trends in the construction of buildings in the city have “significantly” changed in the last three decades.

Sison said the present engineering trends have made buildings more attractive and able to help mitigate the effects of climate change.

“Before, we were only contented with a plain cement and paint finish, but now we have different claddings like glass, among others. We have also used pre-fabricated wall systems. Before, we used wood in building but now we don’t to prevent the cutting of trees,” she said.

“People now prefer high-rise buildings” because the cost of land keeps them from acquiring more space, she said.

With the help of technology and better equipment, Sison said the construction of buildings has grown faster.

High-rise buildings take just over a year to build, while in the 1980s it took two to three years to build more modest structures.

Both Go and Sison believe that as technology advances, more systems will be developed in the construction industry to make buildings more innovative and eco-friendly.

When in Cebu City, please visit http://www.gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.

Avail of the opportunity to own a condominium unit in Cebu City together with your own parking space at the low amount of only P12,000.00+ and House and Lot @ P 7,306.81/month only. Hurry while supply of units still last. Just call the Tel. Nos. shown herein: (053)555-84-64/09164422611/09173373687.

SEA RESIDENCES - Diokno Blvd., Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City, Manila

SEA RESIDENCES - Diokno Blvd., Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City, Manila

When in Cebu City, please visit http://www.gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.

Avail of the opportunity to own a condominium unit in Cebu City together with your own parking space at the low amount of only P12,000.00+ and House and Lot @ P 7,306.81/month only. Hurry while supply of units still last. Just call the Tel. Nos. shown herein: (053)555-84-64/09164422611/09173373687.

                                                                                                                                                           

http://gregmelep.com/?view=details&catitemid=3

http://gregmelep.com/?view=details&catitemid=3

When in Cebu City, please visit http://www.gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.

Avail of the opportunity to own a condominium unit in Cebu City together with your own parking space at the low amount of only P12,000.00+ and House and Lot @ P 7,306.81/month only. Hurry while supply of units still last. Just call the Tel. Nos. shown herein: (053)555-84-64/09164422611/09173373687.