Filinvest to Switch to High-rise Projects in Cebu City’s SRP as Land Values Rise

Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) will switch to high-rise buildings in its PHP25-billion development at the Cebu City-owned South Road Properties (SRP) as land values in the area rise, an official said.

Boler L. Binamira Jr., FLI assistant vice president and Visayas area sales head, bared this over the weekend during the topping-off ceremony for the third building of Amalfi, a nine-building condominium project.

Amalfi, together with San Remo Oasis, is part of the first cluster inside the 40-hectare property FLI is developing under a joint venture with the Cebu City government.

Binamira said there will be seven more clusters to be developed by FLI.

The first cluster will be different from the others because it will be the only “low-density” and “low-rise” portion of the master-planned community with only five levels per building.

The rest, Binamira said, will be high-rise residential projects.

Aside from these projects in the City di Mare site, Filinvest is developing a separate 10-hectare property, the lifestyle and retail hub Il Corso.

“When we started around 2009, property price was still at P12,000 to P15,000 per square meter, but now it’s valued at around P30,000,” Binamira said.

The best way to maximize the property, he said, is to develop vertically.

He projects that the price per square meter could soar to as much as P200,000, comparable to some properties in Makati City.

In December last year, FLI President and Chief Executive Officer Josephine Gotianun-Yap said the company was increasing its investment in City di Mare from PHP10 billion to PHP25 billion. (PNA) LAP/EB/EBP