Philrealty allots P5B for mixed-use project

MANILA, Philippines - Listed property firm Philippine Realty & Holdings Corp. (Philrealty) will spend P5 billion for a mixed-used project in the sprawling Fort Bonifacio business district.

The masterplanned development forms part of Philrealty’s plans to be active anew in the real estate sector as it exits corporate rehabilitation.

Philrealty and Greenhills Properties Inc. signed yesterday  a joint venture deal to develop a 6,400-square-meter (sqm) prime property in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig.

Philrealty president Amador Bacani said the development of the four 1,600-sqm lots near the future headquarters of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) will require P5 billion in investments.

“This project will show Philrealty’s renewed capability as a property developer known for building landmarks,” Bacani said.

Gerardo Lanuza, vice-president for special projects of Philrealty, said the area will feature three towers: one office, one hotel or serviced apartment and one residential.

“In the Fort, everybody is excited. Takeup is still large,” Lanuza said.

Bacani said proceeds from the sale of units in the newly-launched Skybreeze Tower will fund the five-year construction of the property in BGC.

Skybreeze Tower is a 31-story residential building in Cubao, Quezon City that will generate P3 billion in sales. The second of five towers in the Andrea North condominium development will house a total of 280 units ranging from 50-180 sqm.

Bacani said the BGC project is the second partnership of Philrealty with Greenhills Properties. The two firms completed the 20-story La Isla residential condominium project in Ortigas Center.

Once a high-profile real estate company, Philrealty developed upscale projects in Ortigas Center, foremost of which is Tektite Towers – the former headquarters of the PSE – and the Alexandra, a luxury mid-rise residential condominium in Ortigas Center.

The company filed for rehabilitation with the courts after it was saddled with around P3 billion in losses following a slump in the real estate industry in 1997.

“We are on the road to normalcy,” Bacani said, adding that its debts were already cut to around P150 million.