Why the Legacy is its own legacy

There are cities in this country that inspire loyalty that no amount of tax incentives or benefits – or even free movie passes to senior citizens – in other cities would make their residents leave. One of them is Quezon City.

"People who live in Quezon City don’t normally want to leave QC," says Jose Juan Jugo, project manager of The Legacy at Montgomery Place, an exclusive enclave within a larger 7.5-hectare development on E. Rodriguez Ave. in QC by Ayala Land Premier (ALP).

We are talking about loyalty of place, of wanting to stay where your roots are, and, it seems, this is the kind of sentiment that ALP inspires in its QC residents. Jugo says that residents of Montgomery Place "are very loyal, most of the people here are from QC, very few come from outside. They love living here because it’s close to Ortigas, Pasig, Makati, and not too far from Manila, yet far enough to be classified as a suburb."

Ayala Land Premier’s two most recent developments in QC – Ferndale Homes on Commonwealth Ave. and The Legacy at Montgomery Place – are unique in two ways: first, they are among only a few of ALP’s developments that offer house-and-lot packages (most projects sell only lots) and that these projects are located in places that were not traditionally thought of as prime locations.

It is awe-inspiring to see a subdivision like Montgomery Place right smack in the middle of E. Rodriguez Ave. in QC. For QC residents not living in the area, E. Rodriguez is just a road to go to another place – like a shortcut from Manila to San Juan, or to Cubao, or to go New Manila or St. Luke’s Hospital – not really a place to go to unless you were attending Trinity College or going to QC Sports Center.

"It was just raw land then and look at it now," says Jugo.

Jugo handled the development when he joined Ayala Land six years ago, from being a brand manager at San Miguel Brewing Phils., and is seeing its completion through.

Well, yeah – look at it now.

The gates of Montgomery Place is quite easy to miss if you’re driving westbound, tucked as it is between two commercial lots. So when you get inside, past the guardhouse and see the townhouses sitting prettily in different colors, shoulder to shoulder, you feel like you’ve just been transported into a nifty neighborhood whose design inspiration was the clapboard houses of the American South.

Montgomery Place’s first three phases – 270 townhouses all in all – have long been sold out, with the last unit turned over in 2004. Phase 4 is called The Legacy at Montgomery Place, which is now under development, and is composed of 59 single-detached houses and 12 units of townhouses (in three sets of quadruplex).

The Legacy is – well, there is no other way to put it – more high-end than the previous phases. While there is no gate separating this project (it occupies 2.3 hectares within MP) from the bigger development and while the look is in keeping with the American South theme, there is a distinct difference between The Legacy and the previous phases. For one, the nature of the design (single-detached houses) dictates a luxury of space that wasn’t required of the previous ones, plus it has its own exclusive clubhouse amenities.

Project manager Jose Juan Jugo recently sat down with us to explain why The Legacy is its own legacy.

PHILIPPINE STAR: How different is it selling The Legacy at Montgomery Place, which offers built houses, from other Ayala Land Premier projects that offer only lots, and are consequently given to speculative investment.

JOSE JUAN JUGO: The buyers here are mostly end-users. Investors don’t normally buy built houses, they buy condominiums or lots. The Legacy attracted about 90 percent Filipino-Chinese because it’s along the areas they prefer to live in outside of Binondo. You have Quezon City in general – New Manila, Sta. Mesa Heights – and also Greenhills, San Juan.

What’s the profile of MP residents?

They’re young families without children or with young children because MP townhouses are less expensive. But for The Legacy, the buyers are more mature. They have grown children, of high-school age, or they’re already empty nesters whose children already have their own families.

What lessons have you learned from building MP?

Feng shui is very important to the Chinese market; it can be a deal breaker. So in our next project that will address the Chinese market we will have to consider that from the start already. Like the units that face east and west sold faster than those did not have that orientation; the lots in "tumbok" lots (cul de sac) sold the slowest.

Why do people like to live in exclusive communities such as this?

It’s a preference. For one, they don’t have to build their houses. We build it for you. Building a house is a big headache in itself; a lot of things can go wrong like you choose the wrong design and you find out only in the end when it’s too late. Many people would rather leave that problem to a developer like us, with warranties that exceed their expectations. Also, we offer expertise and property management that you don’t get in other villages. Some people choose not to live in communities, they prefer to live in places like New Manila, which is not a subdivision – it’s not regulated.

What’s the advantage of that?

Security is one big advantage. Maintenance also, your property appreciates faster than when you’re outside. The entire 7.5 hectares of MP is controlled by Ayala Land Premier and over time the value will appreciate compared to other developments not regulated by anybody.

In terms of market appreciation, how do single-detached houses compare with condominiums?

They will not appreciate as fast as condos because investors are not as fond of single detached homes as they are of, say, a Makati condo. When we talk about investors, we’re talking about the lease market, whose buyers lease the units out. This market is strong in the city than it is in a suburb like this.

How many percent does a townhouse appreciate?

ALP townhouses in QC appreciate an average of five to seven percent per year, double than other non-Ayala Land QC developments. The Legacy is expected to match or even surpass that rate.

Do you have an idea of how the relationship between neighbors is here? It’s literally a tight community, the roads are not too wide and the houses are side-by-side.

That’s the trade-off for living in a place that’s near everywhere. The homeowners do get along. We established the association in 2003. People get together every so often, there are sub-committees for women, for children. They’ve set all these things up and they have their own events like Halloween and Christmas and Chinese New Year. Ayala Property Management Corporation (APMC) is also key in making sure the property runs well. It encourages community interaction.