PhilRealty marks comeback with Sky Villas dev’t

MANILA, Philippines – Amid the laidback environment of New Manila in Quezon City stands a new high–rise tower along Balete Drive and N. Domingo Street. The 31-floor building sticks out like a prized trophy in the city, marking a comeback for one of the country’s biggest properties firm.

The new Sky Villas tower is the second of five phases within the upscale Andrea North development of the Philippine Realty and Holdings Corporation (PhilRealty), one of the pioneers in the realty development industry which had a huge role in the rise of the Ortigas Center during the ’80s and ’90s.

Sky Villas offers spacious residential units that are targeted to cater to the city’s underserved affluent market. This new innovation also reflects the property giant’s strategy in returning – and possibly re-conquering – an already competitive market: premium properties, bigger spaces, and faster turn-overs.

Unlike competition that pooled its resources in established business centers in Makati and Ortigas, PhilRealty trooped to the North and began a P25-billion worth premium property complex in Quezon City.

“Quezon City is the largest city within Metro Manila. Surprisingly, it also has the highest underserved market in the country, which is the upscale community segment, and all the major players are quite absent in this area,” PhilRealty President Amador Bacani said. 

True to its promise

The Andrea North project is the only vertical premium property project in Quezon City. Three more buildings are expected to complete the two-hectare gated property.

With the tagline “Spacious Living, Intimate Communities,” Sky Villas boasts of bigger units compared to other similar developments in the same category. The property offers 97 spacious units with the smallest at 205-square meters, each having three bedrooms, balconies, floor-to-ceiling windows, and spacious kitchens.

“We are returning to our roots, which is offering bigger spaces,” PhilRealty Director Andrew Alcid explained. “We are going against competition who sell smaller units because we don’t want to play the quantity game. We want to deliver bigger spaces for our high-end buyers.”

The construction of the prized Sky Villas is now at 20th floor and pre-selling has opened earlier this week. “The anticipation is high for Sky Villas,” Alcid claimed, adding that they have been receiving queries on the units since early this year.

The target turn-over for Sky Villas is around the fourth quarter of 2016 – a rare feat considering that the normal waiting period for a pre-sold premium property ranges from about five to six years.

“In our case, you will see what you are actually buying the moment you make your purchase,” said Alcid. 

Back in the business

A pioneer in the industry, PhilRealty has built a reputation for pioneering exceptional developments. Among the innovative landmark projects it brought to the fore are the Tektite Towers (Philippine Stock Exchange Centre), the La Isla Condo, and The Alexandra complex, among others.

However, the pioneer of vertical living was brought down to its knees after the Asian financial crisis during the late ’90s and forced the entire company to file for corporate rehabilitation.

Today, after more than a decade under receivership, PhilRealty settled its dues amounting to P2.2 billion to finally exit rehab. “It was a long painful process of restructuring the business,” Bacani said. “Finally, the rehabilitation proceedings have been ordered because of successful implementation of the rehab plan.”

Now on stable financial ground after quite a long time, Alcid said PhilRealty is training its sights towards working on other pillars as it makes its way back into the business.

Aside from Andrea North, PhilRealty is set to work with its long-time partners from Greenhills Properties, Inc. to develop Project Cube 5^th Avenue — a mixed use vertical development that will host retail, residential, office, serviced apartments, and a hotel facility in Bonifacio Global City.

“This is the last prime property in the Taguig area,” says Alcid.

The company is also set to begin work for El Pueblo, a 5,900-square meter mixed-use development with a retail anchor within the Ortigas central business district. Aside from this, PhilRealty also eyes to build luxurious leisure beach-front properties in La Union and Tagaytay.

PhilRealty aims to have final plans for these projects before the end of the year, says Alcid. “We are optimistic about our projects in our continued effort to get back to being a major realty developer.” – Rappler.com