ALI readies P20-B facelift of Ayala Center

January 20, 2010 19:59:00
Doris Dumlao
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Property giant Ayala Land Inc. has mapped out a P20-billion major redevelopment of Ayala Center—one of its most ambitious projects in the country’s premier central business district so far—to boost its suite of residential, office, hotel and retail property offering alongside an expected robust real estate market.

Part and parcel of the redevelopment is the construction of the plush 370-unit Park Terraces, envisioned to be an iconic residential condominium redefining the skyline of Ayala Center, which will rise right beside the future Fairmont Raffles Hotel.

“This is just one more of the very few and very strategic parcels that will be sold around the Ayala Center,” ALI chair Fernando Zobel de Ayala said during the launch of Park Terraces Tuesday night. The new residential project also marks ALI’s return to the upscale Makati residential property market for the first time since the unveiling of The Residences at Greenbelt in 2006.

ALI president Antonino Aquino said the P20-billion redevelopment of Ayala Center along the five-hectare space of Glorietta 1 and 2 would include the construction of two new office buildings and one business-type hotel.

Aside from boosting ALI’s property sales, Aquino said the undertaking, which will take place within the next three to five years, would result in a “dramatic expansion” of recurring earnings. He said the redevelopment would expand ALI’s office space available for rent by 40,000 square meters and the Ayala Center shopping mall space by another 20,000 square meters. The business hotel, on the other hand, will offer 250-300 rooms.

In the case of Park Terraces, Aquino said the company would initially offer 150 units, but eventually bring to the market a total of 370 units. ALI, through its high-end brand Ayala Land Premier, will sell condominium units in this new community for as low as P5 million to as high as P40 million, with the floor area ranging from 37 to 272 square meters.

After an initial caution following the US-led global financial crisis, Zobel said the property market turned upbeat starting June last year and had continued to pick up strength. He said ALI, which sold 2,500 residential units last year, would likely grow its volume four-fold to about 9,200 units this 2010.

“I think this is also a unique time for Ayala Land in terms of its capacity to deliver quality products in that type of volume along a range of price points and diverse geographic location. Obviously we’re in [Metro] Manila, but we’ve got many other product launches taking place in many parts of the country,” Zobel said.

“The conditions continue to be supportive of a robust real estate cycle,” Zobel said, noting the record-low interest rates, sustained but more modest growth in overseas remittances, much-improved investor confidence and a stable domestic banking system that ensured ample supply of credit to home buyers.

A few days ago, ALI posted a record-breaking single-day sales of more than P1 billion during the launch of Santierra in Nuvali south of Metro Manila. “I’m quite confident that Park Terraces will exceed that volume,” Zobel said.

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To know more about Park Terraces, feel free to contact me at 0917 580 2013.

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