To home buyers, however, one bare condo unit looks like just another: A square layout, floor-to-ceiling windows, spectacular views, convenient location, top-rate facilities and things you come to expect from units costing millions.
Here’s where South of Market in Fort Bonifacio is different. There are two exceptional things about the development. Perhaps it is because the companies behind it – Century Properties, Meridien Development Group and Nova Construction – are now headed by two young men in their early thirties that these innovations are being undertaken. Jigger Antonio, a Wharton graduate with an MBA major in real estate, is managing director/COO of Century Properties and Chut Cuerva, who got his degree in architecture from Columbia University, is managing director of Nova.
The first unique thing about South of Market is that the units come fully-fitted and fully-furnished – all 295 units in each of the 37-story South and North Towers. This may sound impractical at first, especially since design preferences are like fashion choices: No two people have exactly the same tastes. But when you think about it, it does make a lot of sense since it eliminates the hassle and cost of hiring an interior designer and a contractor to do your unit.
"Fifty percent of our buyers are Filipinos living abroad," says Jigger Antonio. "When they buy a unit, they want a place that they’ll just move into because when they come back to Manila, it would take them from six to nine months to fix it. If they want to lease it, it’s ready. The day we turn over the unit is the day they can actually move in."
"Fully furnished" means every furniture and appliance in the model unit is included, such as the sofas, side and coffee tables, dining set, bed frames, wardrobes, microwave, cooking range, air-conditioning units, refrigerator, TV and washing machine. The only things you’ll probably need to carry with you are your books, clothes and coffee maker.
"That’s our main selling point. With SoMa what you see is what you get." Jigger says only 10 percent of their clients complain about the cookie-cutter approach while 90 percent love it. It does eliminate the disappointment of homeowners who see swanky model units and end up not knowing how to design their own once it’s been turned over to them.
Design-wise, the units are very flexible, allowing for homeowners to put in their own imprint on the space. Chut Cuerva, whose firm archi|pelago designed the model units with his partner Tisha de Borja, chose a contemporary style with lots of room for change .
"This is pretty much how the units will look, but when the towers finish in December 2007, what they’ll get is probably a more current version of what you see here," he says. "We had two kinds of fictitious clients in mind for the model units. In the one-bedroom, it’s a young bachelor so we tailored the space to be young, stylish and hip. In the two-bedroom unit, we imagined a young starting family. We made it a little more feminine and mixed in a few older pieces like the sort of things they’d inherit from their parents. The design still leaves a lot to the imagination. With your accessories, you can put in your own style. The basic things are there so we’re taking away the hassle of, say, finding the right dining table to fit the space."
The second unique thing about SoMa is the layout, which any homemaker or bachelor would appreciate. The kitchen is separated from the living areas, it can be closed off with a door and has a balcony on one side. We’ve seen some top-rate developments of this size where, as soon as you enter through the front door, the kitchen is to your left or right, separated only by a counter from the living areas. For people who cook, it’s not very practical to have an open kitchen because no amount of air vents or range hoods can take away the smell of food in such a small space.
In our eyes, this tiny detail makes SoMa special. Jigger says when they were conceptualizing the development, Chut went around condos abroad to see how they were doing it, thus setting the basis of the design parameters. Chut found some of the best condos in Bangkok. "In Bangkok all their condos have kitchens like this because their food smells so strong. They make it a point to separate it from the living spaces."
Just imagine the smell that’s going to stick to your living room walls when you’re cooking bagoong if the layout was open. The sliding door in the kitchen also takes care of the dilemma of your not wanting to be seen by guests who arrive when you’re still slaving over the stove. Not all of us look like Nigella Lawson when we’re cooking, you know.
Designed by Roger Villarosa and Associates, SoMa is designed in such a way that every unit is a corner unit and that all of them have balconies.
"You get sunlight on two sides, not just one," says Chut.
"That’s one of our signature factors in our buildings. Living in a condo can be claustrophobic so we put in a balcony for them to have a connection to the outside world. Aside from its being functional for cooking and smoking, just the fact that you can go out and smell the air is great," says Jigger.
The developers of South of Market are the same ones that brought to the market the luxury condo building Essensa in the Fort in 1999. They imagined SoMa to be a "Junior Essensa" – more affordable, smaller spaces.
Century-Meridian, says Jigger, "is the largest private real estate developer in the country. Our major competitors – Ayala, Robinsons, Megaworld, Filinvest, Brittany – are all public. In toe-to-toe sales, month per month, we’re a match to them."
In terms of sales volume, the group last year had a turnover of P3.3 billion. "It’s our passion to develop and deliver quality that we’re proud of and as users you’ll be proud of living in our buildings as well."
"That’s traditionally been our proposition," adds Chut. "We’re not Ayala, so we have to offer more."
Located at the Crescent Park West residential district of the Fort, SoMa is the third in a series of projects of the same kind. The first is Bel-Air SoHo on Polaris St. in Makati and the second is SoHo Central on Shaw Boulevard, fronting Shangri-La Plaza Mall, in partnership with Greenfield which, according to Jigger, is one of the biggest property groups in the country, owning 50 percent of Fort Bonifacio (the other half being owned by Ayala Land).
"SoHo Central is unique because it’s going to be the first residential building connected directly to an MRT station through a private walkway. It’s very convenient for Makati and Ortigas professionals and more affordable too since it’s about P10,000 per square meter cheaper than in Makati and the Fort. With SoHo Central, we wanted to bring in the London, Hong Kong and New York models where people take the MRT to work because it’s more convenient."
Though it’s situated in a more pricey location than the other two, SoMa’s South Tower is already 95 percent sold and they started offering it only in June 2004.
"We’re the fastest selling because of our proposition," says Jigger. "We’ve legally structured it in a such a way that homeowners co-invest in the project. We formed a corporation with the owners to jointly co-develop South of Market so that they’re partners and they don’t have to pay VAT, doc stamps and transfer taxes, which makes it 30 percent lower compared to other developments. Our lowest is P3 million and savings come out to P900,000. The homeowners get a title to their unit, it’s just the mechanism of owning it that’s different – it’s a co-development. It’s a structured partnership so you get the best of both worlds."
The units are offered in one-, two- and three-bedroom configurations with sizes ranging from 39 to 115 square meters. Prices start at P2.9 million. Some clients have snapped up double or triple units to combine them as one, and some have gotten half a floor for themselves. SoMa’s architects help them configure the combined spaces.
Among its facilities are concierge and doorman services, a THX theater room, function rooms, owner’s lounge, game room, health and fitness center, swimming pool, housekeeping and laundry services, driver’s lounge, and a storage facility. There will also be a commercial area on the ground floor.
So how did these two young guys – Jigger is 32; Chut, 31 – get into real estate development? "Both of us were born into it. Real estate is in our blood," says Jigger.
Chut’s father, Richie Cuerva, is the CEO of Meridien; Jigger’s father, Joey Antonio, is the chairman. It’s a partnership that has lasted more than 20 years and the reins have now been handed down to the second generation.
"Our dads have worked so hard and now all they want to do is play golf and travel," says Jigger with a laugh. "Seriously, they’re the ones who envision the grand design, they identify the sites and the projects which are high-level stuff and for that you need the experience and the wisdom that they have. Chut and I are the implementors of their vision. We are lucky enough to have been trained by great fathers."
At their age, do they enjoy such jobs that carry great responsibilities and millions of pesos riding on their decisions?
"I cannot imagine doing something else," says Chut. "I love all aspects of my job – the creative side, the development part – everything."
"Right now the plans are just on paper, then you see the building coming up slowly. It’s very fulfilling," says Jigger.
Pretty soon, those plans are going to be real homes for families. That’s a pretty good reason for loving their job.