Living the dream in Westgrove
MANILA, Philippines - After some years abroad and a hopeful search, the Pabst family have found the perfect home in Ayala Westgrove Heights.
For Lita and Lutz Pabst, they and their family were like global nomads — having lived in some remarkable places all over the world until finally deciding to come back home to live in Lita’s native Philippines. They first lived in the burgeoning Alabang area, but in her mind, Lita had a picture of the perfect home for her family and she knew she had yet to find that place. “Alabang was getting to be so crowded, especially when you’re there during peak hours,” Lita says.
She never really stopped looking for “the one” through the years. Sure enough, as if by serendipity, Lutz and his colleagues were brought to Ayala Westgrove Heights to see the home of one of the executives as their group headed back from a business trip in Batangas. Lutz was immediately taken with Westgrove. He ended up buying two lots — because Lita wanted the two adjacent lots that form the shape of a fan — in the newest phase of Westgrove at the time. They were the first couple to buy into that phase. “It was buying without looking,” Lita recalls. “We didn’t see the land itself because it was all raw. We just saw the maps and the perspective.”
Ayala Land Premier turned over the fully developed lots to Lita and Lutz in the promised 18 months. The couple was confident they would receive the quality and excellence that Ayala Land Premier is known for even without having visited the actual site of their Westgrove properties — and they were right to trust the country’s top real estate developer.
Ayala Westgrove Heights is a sprawling orchard environment nestled among the rolling hills of Sta. Rosa, Laguna. It is a 30-minute drive through scenic countryside to the commercial district of Alabang and just another few minutes’ trip to Makati CBD — with the soon-to-be-completed Skyway extension. Even as Sta. Rosa experiences steady growth and progress, Westgrove remains sheltered from the frenzy of a busy city. The Westgrove community enjoys orchard living, with plenty of fresh air and wide, verdant spaces where families can spend quality time together.
These days, the Pabsts are settled comfortably in Westgrove in a contemporary Mediterranean style home of Lita’s own design. She’s an interior decorator, as well as a real estate broker. Westgrove has proven to be her family’s dream home and she wishes to share the delights of living in a rich, tranquil environment with other families.
With 21-year-old daughter Vanessa fresh out of college and starting work as a schoolteacher in Germany, Lita has a lot more free time on her hands. She’s now the resident hostess of the community. The children of neighbors like to visit the Pabst home to play in the swimming pool. It’s a sort of mutually beneficial arrangement: Lita and her friends enjoy an afternoon chatting in the lanai where the moms can keep an eye on their kids at the same time. The pool is so popular with the neighborhood kids that it has become the hotspot for birthday pool parties. Guests come with extra chairs and lots of food and the party is in full swing.
Lita’s family gets to appreciate more of life’s little pleasures at Westgrove. Lutz and Vanessa like biking and going to the gym together. They also like going out for a short drive to Starbucks, Sta. Rosa for some father-daughter bonding over Frappucinos. Lita, who loves gardening, tends to her flowers adorning the pool area and lanai. Even the family’s pet dog enjoys Westgrove living. Drixe gets to run around one of Westgroves many parks with Lutz every day. “My husband loves it here,” Lita says. “It’s safe, quiet, the air is cool and the atmosphere is truly relaxing,” Lutz affirms. “I never had the feeling that we have to close the doors here.”
It took a while for the Pabst family to find where they really belong but in Ayala Westgrove Heights, they finally found a home to cherish and enjoy, a home where they can bask in the many small wonders of life as a family.
