Vacation time begins right now at Pico de Loro

MANILA, Philippines - For many hardworking families and investors, their vacation is a mere 114 kilometers away from Manila and it doesn’t have to end when the long weekend is over.

Touted to be the country’s biggest and most impressive leisure destination being developed near Metro Manila, Hamilo Coast is a 5,800-hectare mountainous coastline enclave located in Nasugbu, Batangas. It has 13 unique coves, one of which is the 40-hectare Pico de Loro. With its nine mid-rise residential buildings, a four-hectare lagoon in the middle, a beach and country club and a boutique hotel, Pico de Loro provides a snapshot of what the future of Hamilo Coast will look like.

Seeing Pico de Loro now — lively and teeming with activities with club members, condo unit owners and the bustling Beach Club — it’s hard to imagine that before SM Land began developing the area, there was really nothing here — no roads, no electricity, no potable water.

That’s what impressed Jose Fernando B. Camus, chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle Leechiu, a financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate services and investment management. “We’re very familiar with developers in the Philippines and the projects they’re doing. We do research for them, we do appraisals, we do brokerage,” says Camus. “My family was looking for a place to go on weekends and I think this is the ideal place because we’re part of a development that’s 5,800 hectares in size. That’s mind-boggling! Knowing that it’s the SM Group behind it and that they have a name to protect convinced us this was right for us. Other resorts are beautiful, too, but there is no master planning so the amenities are not in place. This one had a master plan right from the very beginning.”

Alex Claveria, a businessman with a paint manufacturing and trading company with retail outlets, had the same reasons for buying into Pico de Loro. “I like the concept of the project. SM Land is a reputable developer that I can trust. I see it also as a very good investment that the whole family can enjoy.”

Claveria bought a one-bedroom unit which he is planning to upgrade into a two-bedroom unit. “I’m a simple man living a simple life with simple dreams. I’m the eldest in the family. I started to work early in my life and started my own business at the age of 17 and have been in business all my life. The very reason why I got a unit at Pico de Loro is to enjoy my free time with my family.”

Claveria and his son are into diving and he says his wife, after she gives birth to their fifth child, also intends to take up diving. “The kids just love to spend the day in the beach especially when we go snorkeling. Hamilo Coast has the amenities that the whole family can enjoy, particularly the marina and 13 coves. I can already imagine myself diving with my eldest son in the morning and hiking or biking on the trails in the afternoon with my wife and other kids. We can practice our hoops on the basketball court, maybe also learn to play tennis or squash. In the evening my friends and the whole family can enjoy singing in one of the videoke rooms.”

Before buying a unit at Pico de Loro, Camus first looked at other developments, of course. After all, this is his second vacation home, as the family has a house in Tali Beach and he’s a member of Tagaytay Highlands. “I have 11 children and nine grandchildren. My children go to CamSur and other places to wakeboard and to surf.”

He likes that Pico de Loro is one of the three coves that are under marine protection — the other two are Santelmo and Etayo Coves — and regulate the use of motorized watercraft. “I wouldn’t want my grandchildren swimming in a place where there are people jetskiing because there have been accidents in other places. Pico de Loro has shallow waters, it’s perfect for swimming and snorkeling.”

For marketing consultant Ceferino Carreon, who holds a degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, his reasons for becoming a member of the Pico de Loro Beach & Country Club are not so much for himself but for his friends and business associates.

Carreon sits on the board of three lending companies — Integrity, Buena Vista and Diamond — and on the board of Valle Vista, a real estate company. He also plays serious bridge, competing out of the country three times a year as part of the national team and attending the Olympiad every four years. Apart from Hamilo Coast he is also a member of Tagaytay Highlands and Punta Fuego.

So, when his fellow bridge players from abroad or his business colleagues come over for a visit in the Philippines, he always takes them to Batangas for two or three days — first, they have breakfast at Antonio’s, then they spend the day doing water sports or just relaxing in Hamilo Coast. On the way back to Manila, they have steaks at Tagaytay Highlands.

“My underlying purpose in all this is to lift the Filipino image,” Carreon says. “We have a bad rap abroad. By bringing them to this place, I can show to them that if the Filipino puts his mind into creating, he can do world-class things. For them to be in the Philippines and not see this, I think it’s a crime,” Carreon says. “My guests are always impressed and shocked that there is such a development out here. They’re all scratching their heads wondering how SM could have brought all the equipment to develop such a place. It’s bewildering for you to see all this the first time.”

Worry-Free Leisure Living

With the completion of the Jacana condominium cluster this year, and the Myna cluster by first quarter of next year, club members can stay overnight because SM Land has withheld selling the ground-floor units while the planned hotel, Azurea, is still being constructed. SM Land project director Herbert Herrero says about 15 units on the ground floor of Jacana and Myna will be fully furnished and rented out to club members, and when the hotel is complete to sell the units.

According to Star C. Tuason, assistant vice president for property management of Hamilo Coast, most of the Jacana homeowners are end-users themselves and bought units because they were attracted to the whole property’s proposition — a master-planned leisure community, not just a resort, that’s near enough Metro Manila and carries all the modern conveniences of city living, yet far and exclusive enough to be actually away from it all.

“We expect that most of them will be here on weekends because they want to spend family time and enjoy the facilities of Hamilo Coast,” Tuason says. The facilities include the Pico de Loro Beach Club, which soft-launched last February, featuring a restaurant and bar, a swimming pool, locker rooms, spa, and the beach, of course. Being developed is the four-hectare saltwater lagoon whose promenade connects the condominium clusters, and the three-hectare Pico de Loro Country Club with its indoor and outdoor sports facilities for tennis, basketball and badminton, a fitness center, meeting and banquet facilities, and Olympic-size swimming pool. The Country Club will be completed by yearend.

Tuason says that homeowners also looked at the property management plans since most of them will be here only on the weekend or, for those based abroad, only certain months of the year.  

“Property management is professionally managing the operations of the condominiums both administratively and technically,” he explains. “To prepare for the handover we put in place the systems and procedures necessary to make it convenient for the homeowners to just move into their units. We came up with a list of requirements we needed to prepare so their expectations are realized, like we made sure all the utilities are working: water, power, cable TV, Internet, and telephone systems. We ensured that the security is in place. On the engineering side, in preparation of the handover, we went through the units one by one, doing testing and commissioning, like the outlets we made sure there’s power so that when they plug their coffeemakers it would work, or that there’s WiFi so if they wanted to work in their units or at the Beach Club they are connected to the Internet. That’s what property management is all about.” 

Concierge services, which include maintaining the units and even filing the property tax, are also in the plans and this is especially crucial for foreign investors and Filipinos based abroad as it allows them to lock up and go — even for several months. 

A Mindful Master-Plan

Herrero further explains that from the start, the master plan took into account the impact of developing the area on the environment and respected the lay of the land. Roads were built, water and power systems were installed, and the architecture and design of the condominium clusters went through several stages. They also partnered with World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines) to safeguard the natural resources of the environment.

SM Land architect and assistant vice president for projects Anna Cabe explains that it was like building a new town. “We had to find the right plan to suit the environment. The master plan for Pico de Loro was by CIML, a joint venture of Cadiz International and ML Design based in Brisbane, Australia. You see in the design some Australian influences like the rooflines. It’s far from what we see in the resorts here, which are usually Balinese or Mediterranean style. It’s more contemporary. We went through many phases of design, too. Initially we considered the Mediterranean and Filipino themes, but when we got Cadiz and ML design, they introduced the Australian way of design, which is also sensitive to the sustainability efforts — and the keyword here is sustainability. Australia is the forerunner in sustainability efforts in the world.”

Jacana and Myna units launched with basic studio loft units going up to 200 square meters for a three-bedroom unit. All units have a 3.1-meter ceiling and views of the forests or the manmade lake.

She explains that the architects kept the Jacana interiors and finishes of top-quality and contemporary in styling, and flexible enough to suit the different styles of homeowners and that the buildings are on the coastline. “We used homogenous tiles, which are better than ceramic because the material is not just a coating like ceramic tiles, so it doesn’t peel off and it maintains its luster.”

A basic off-white palette was used with accents of dark wood in the modular kitchen cabinets imported from Austria and the doors, while bathroom fixtures are contemporary in style with countertop porcelain sinks and rainshowers.

“We still leave something to the imagination of the unit owners,” she says.

For those who missed the opportunity to own a weekend home at Jacana and Myna, one- to three-bedroom units at the Carola and Miranda clusters are now available for future residents of Pico de Loro.

The turnover of the Jacana units is just the exciting start of an enviable vacation lifestyle for the homeowners. And there’s still so much to look forward to in the coming years.

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SM Land is the new brand of property development by SM Investments Corp., offering properties from primary homes and residences to leisure developments and integrated business districts. For inquiries about Hamilo Coast, call 858-0333 or log on to hamilocoast.com. For club membership inquiries call 902-8053 or log on to www.picodeloroclub.com