Korean firm invests P1.4B for premium condo project

A Korean-owned company Fastem Housing and Development (FHD) is investing P1.4 billion in Cebu to build a premium condominium building facility, which is set to be completed in the next two years.

FHD has started its horizontal works in the 3,000 square-meter lot it purchased at the Cebu Business Park (CBP). The company is building a 19-story high rise building condominium, called Tower Place Residential Condominiums, located right in front of the south-entry area of the Ayala Center Cebu.

"I believe that there is a market in Cebu for condominiums. The City [Cebu] has started to embrace the condominium living lifestyle," said FHD president Sun Kyu Baek in a press conference yesterday.

As soon as the company will get its license to sell from the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), they will start to sell the 200 condominium units to the market, said ChaCha R. Rama, FHD marketing director.

Initially, the company has built a showroom facility to showcase the unit models of the upcoming project, also located near the Cebu Business Park.

The Tower Place will be the first condominium building developed by an investor-company in Cebu Business Park, aside from the Park Towers condominium buildings that are developed by Cebu Holdings Inc. (CHI), the developer of Cebu Business Park.

Baek emphasized that another unique facet of the project is the extensive use of state-of-the-art technology in the condo units. Doors are equipped with digital keypad door lock system, which can store multiple security codes, sensor systems, among others.

Out of 200 high-end condominium units to be made available come September of 2008, are eight penthouses to be located in the 18th and 19th floors.

Baek said the project expects to attract 80 percent Filipino buyers of condo investors, while 20 percent may be purchased by foreigners, especially Koreans.

By the end of this month, of early April, the company will hold its formal ground breaking ceremony to officially start the two-year construction work, of Cebu's another landmark.

Baek, who has also investments around the world, like maintaining a construction related manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia, said Cebu for his part, is the most strategic area for this kind of business, among other regions in the Philippines, including Metro Manila.

Although, there are already several condominium units available in Cebu, he said the market is offering almost the same product, in terms of quality, among others.

"I like to introduce another dimension of condominium units that will be state-of-the-art in Cebu," Baek added.

FHD started in the Philippines in 1980, and handled various construction projects in numerous cities and sites in Asia.

The Fastem Group of companies include; Fastem Construction, Fastem Wall System, Fastem Trading, and FHD.