Eton to ramp up office, commercial portfolio this year

MANILA, Philippines —  Eton Properties Philippines Inc., the real estate company of the Lucio Tan Group, plans to ramp up its office and commercial portfolio this year, saying that the company remained resilient amid the global economic recession last year.

“This year, we are adding more gross leasable area under the leasing portfolio, while we will aim to activate some of our remaining raw lands across the country that have good potential for development,” Eton Properties executive director Kyle Tan said.

Within the second quarter, the company intends to launch the Eton City Square inside the vast master-planned township Eton City in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

The commercial district will bring additional 5,824 square meters of leasable area.

Eton said the 36-story Blakes Tower located at the one-hectare mixed-use development Eton WestEnd Square in Makati Central Business District, meanwhile, has 11,500 square meters of available leasable office area, which can be retrofitted to hybrid cuts at varying office size requirements ranging from 40 sqm to 1,000 sqm for more functionality.

Blakes Tower has allocated 11 floors (8th to 19th) exclusive for the office area, while 15 floors (20th to 34th) are devoted to residential units.

Eton said employers and employees would have the option to rent the residential floors to minimize the health risk and have seamless work-life integration.

“This year, we are on momentum to continue our goal to increase our leasing portfolio, which has contributed by 82 percent of our total revenue,” Tan said.

With a slower demand in the office and residential markets, Eton recorded P2 billion in total revenues and P550 million net income in 2021.

The office leasing portfolio delivered the largest share with 77 percent contribution, while commercial and retail added 11 percent.

Residential leasing and the rest of the leasing portfolio accounted for a 12 percent share.

The company said it maintained its healthy balance sheet on the back of its effective cost-saving measures that helped cushion the impact of the pandemic last year.

Eton is forecasting an increase in EBITDA by 17 percent to reach P1.5 billion this year.