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Anchor Land Holdings Inc. is building its newest residential condominium project, the Solemare Park Suites, in Aseana Business Park right there between the Mall of Asia complex and the Bagong Nayong Pilipino Manila Bay Tourism City of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Formerly named Tribeca Parksuites, the development was recast as SoleMare, which in Italian means sun and sea, because “from a branding perspective, it’s a very unique and calm sounding name,” said Beth Ventura, ALHI assistant vice president for sales and marketing.
In a briefing, Steve Li, ALHI vice chairman, said construction of Solemare will start next month along Bradco Avenue corner Macapagal Highway. The three-tower residential condominium will have at least 900 units as each tower will have 18 floors. The project’s ground floors will house commercial and office spaces while the second level will be for offices alone.
ALHI is currently reviewing its pricing scheme for development in light of the surging construction costs and growing pressure on the company’s margins, Li said. A 25-sqm fully furnished one-bedroom unit in Solimare costs about P2 million at the moment.
Li said he does not yet see the company branching out of Manila to other neighboring cities since there is still very strong housing demand in the area and ALHI will still remain a niche player in the real-estate market.
He said the firm prefers areas with relatively less competition in contrast with Makati and Fort Bonifacio in Taguig.
To hedge against inflation, ALHI is actively seeking to expand its land bank. However, the company prefers to acquire the land rather than going into joint ventures with other companies to have more control over projects, Li said.
ALHI bought Gotamco Investment Realty Corp., which owns 5 parcels of land with an aggregate area of 3,100 sqm along Ongpin Street in Binondo. Company officials earlier said they are just waiting for the leases of the current tenants to expire before they can start building a 50-story residential condominium building, which is estimated to cost about P2.5 billion. The project will be marketed to the Filipino-Chinese market and businessmen.
At end-March, ALHI posted a net income of P45.25 million, or 5.8 times more than a year ago as its revenues grew by 241 percent P236.9 million from two of its ongoing projects. Mayfair Tower along United Nations Avenue corner Mabini Street in Ermita, Manila, is 80 percent completed while Mandarin Square, located along Ongpin Street in Binondo, Manila, is at 18 percent completed at the end of the first quarter. Its first project called Lee Tower is already fully sold.
- Likha C. Cuevas-Miel
ManilaTimes.Net
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