German property capitalist hints of more Cebu projects

CEBU, Philippines - Rupert Von Seidan, a German property capitalist based in Singapore, hints on more possible investments on serviced-apartment facilities in Cebu following the success of his first project here, the Copenhagen Residences.

He said that based on the performance of his first property development project in Cebu, which is a joint investment with a Cebuano investor, demand for serviced-apartment accommodation in Cebu is surprisingly climbing.

Copenhagen Residences, deemed as one of the pioneers in offering serviced-apartments in Cebu, offers 98 fully-furnished units for short and long staying transients.

Seidan observed that Cebu needs more serviced-apartment inventories as the market has shifted towards practical accommodation facilities specifically the expatriates with their families as well as long staying vacationers.             

In a separate interview, Arnold Nolasco of Rent.ph said there is a growing number of travelers and even businessmen, who prefer to stay in a serviced-apartment accommodation, because of cost-efficiency and flexibility.

Although condotel units are also taking fame in the accommodation sector, Cebu should also take note of the rising interest on serviced-apartment facilities.

A serviced-apartment is a fully-furnished apartment with hotel like amenities available for both short-term as well as long-term stays.

"We have a lot of clients looking for service-apartments, but what remains to be a problem especially in Cebu is the availability of professional management service that will run this type of operation," said Nolasco.

Meanwhile, local developer Majestic Legacy Home Development Corporation, recently announced the provision of at least 100 units serviced-apartment facility, which will be operational in the next two years.

MLHDC president Mario Lua said that the 100 units of serviced apartments that will be located near the Cebu IT Park, is just an initial number of units to be built by the company.     

Lua said over P300 million is allocated by the company to complete the Azon Serviced-Apartments project, which recently broke ground. (FREEMAN)