New condo tower positions Filinvest City as a global hub

MANILA, Philippines - Manila’s list of affluent residential neighborhoods will have another entry in 2019 with the completion of Bristol at Parkway Place, an iconic 40-story condominium project currently being constructed in Filinvest City.

Bristol will be the tallest and most prominent structure along Parkway Avenue, a multi-tower stretch set to be the “Millionaire’s Row” of the emerging business district in southern Metro Manila and now undergoing a city-wide redevelopment. It will complement the existing residential condominiums on that strip, which have become the preferred residence of expats working in Muntinlupa and the manufacturing hubs in Southern Luzon.

The completion of Bristol will solidify the claim of emerging Filinvest City as a global hub supported by fast-growing BPO companies providing call center and shared services while meeting the demand for commercial and retail centers of the bourgeoning communities of Southern Metro Manila.

Catherine Ilagan, executive vice-president of Filinvest Alabang Inc., said Filinvest City, which has been masterplanned to be a garden central business district, currently has a population of 40,000. The number is expanding quickly as more BPOs as well as companies moving away from the congestion of established business centers seek office spaces in the South.

“Our affordable residential condominium projects favored by employees who work here are thriving. We launched Bristol to address the need for bigger and more spacious units favored by the more affluent global market of expatriates, local residents with foreign nationalities, Filipinos who have worked abroad, balikbayans and the like,” she said. “A globally-oriented business district needs to have a range of accommodations for all its residents.”

Divina Calimag-Schefczyk, who met her German husband in Hong Kong where she worked with a fashion firm, is among the first buyers at Bristol and a good example of the international target market it addresses.

She intends to live at the Bristol with her husband, a chief financial officer of a multinational company doing business in Asia. In addition to the open layout of its units that offer views of the greenery all around, she appreciates that the project is highly accessible to Makati and the other business districts in the North as well as the Calabarzon area where her son attends an international school. It is just less than a kilometer away from the South Luzon Expressway.

This early, Schefczyk is confident her family will thrive in Bristol. It offers amenities like a sky lounge with 360-degree views of the surroundings, grand reception lobby and its own retail promenade – features that they have enjoyed in developments in Hong Kong, China and other parts of Asia they have lived in.

Moreover, it is just across the street from Festival Supermall’s new River Park. It will even have its access to the restaurants, shops, and outdoor areas of this lifestyle hub. It will offer her and her family the freedom to stroll to these destinations from where they will live – a feature very much appreciated by a number of foreign nationals who dislike being dependent most of the time on a vehicle for mobility.

For Amor Ramos-Lin, who bought a one-bedroom unit at Bristol’s 36th floor, the development will give her and her husband, a Taiwanese national, the ability to go on trips without worrying about their home’s security.  “We will be able to just lock and go as we please,” she said.

The Schefczyks and the Lins represent one community that Filinvest City would like to nurture within its fold, according to Ilagan. “By building the type of project that would appeal to them in a business district that can answer all their needs, we are certain that more clients like them will live in Filinvest City.”