An oasis in Cubao

Hard to imagine that in the midst of bustling Cubao, a stone’s throw away from EDSA and the MRT station, is an oasis within concrete walls.

It’s probably Cubao’s best kept secret, a sanctuary for tourists and urban dwellers alike.

Built and owned by renowned architect Gerry Esquivel (hence the structure and its interiors are sleek and stylish,) the Regalia Tower Suites is probably the first high-rise you see on your right as you enter Cubao. The top five floors of the 20-story building are comprised of suites, 12 suites to a floor.

"A breathing space," I sigh as I enter the condotel’s lobby on the 15th floor, having driven through three municipalities on EDSA.

Beige walls and expansive glass windows with a panoramic view of the city and nearby Marikina Valley make you want to exhale, kick back and relax as you step into the lobby.

The suites are minimalist, functional yet stylish — of course you expect no less since an architect owns the place! The suites are roomy, too, and every room, even the bathroom, has a view, points out Regalia’s general manager Alfonso Ferrer.

The condotel is managed by Genesis Hotels and Resorts Corp., headed by the legendary Miguel Cerqueda, with VP for special projects Roger Begre and VP for sales Jose Antonio Mijares. Cerqueda says hotel chains need not look overseas for a topnotch management group.

I ask Mijares about Regalia’s market, and he says that it has exactly the same market as any hotel.

"Tourists, travel agents, balikbayans," he points out. Like Cerqueda, Mijares is an "alumnus" of the Manila Hotel.

So what would be the attraction in this part of town?

"There’s Gateway, there’s a very big sports complex in Marikina, there’s the Araneta Coliseum with all its shows. And there are government offices here."

But a major attraction, says Gerry, "is that Regalia is only seven minutes away from the tiangge in Greenhills. And balikbayans and tourists all want to go to the tiangge!"

I couldn’t agree more. All my balikbayan relatives make the tiangge a part of their itinerary and they often have to brave the length of EDSA to get there.

"I don’t want to pretend that we have a tourist attraction, like the Pyramids of Egypt," says Gerry, a dyed-in-the-wool Atenean who for a time thought it was his calling to become a priest. "We’re at the crossroads of a very interesting intersection and we have really clean sheets!"

Still passionate about helping others (he quietly goes to slum communities, saying it is he, not the poor, who is blessed by each outreach encounter), Gerry believes in building affordable but stylish condominium units in the city for those who cannot afford to live in sprawling homes in the posh villages.

"I try to build condominiums that are affordable," says Gerry, who also participates in outreach projects for prisoners. On an easel in his glass-walled office is a painting by an inmate inspired by an Amorsolo. "When I build condominiums and hotels, I look at it through the point of view of that I provide a little upgrade for the other people who cannot afford say, a Shangri-La. Yung ibang tao, gusto din namang mag-hotel, pero ito lang yung kaya nilang budget."

Quezon City under Mayor Sonny Belmonte is booming. It has all the major TV networks. It has all the major malls and, arguably, the top two universities in the country (UP and Ateneo). It has several major stops of the MRT.

It doesn’t have the Pyramids in Egypt or Rome’s Colosseum.

But it has the Araneta Coliseum and whether it’s the wrestling champs, Cliff Richards or Westlife that’s after your own heart, you could always stay at the Regalia Tower Suites and catch your show on time.

(For more info, please call 635-5558 or 633-6766 or visit www.genesishotels.com)

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