CEBU Landmasters Inc. (CLI) remains bullish about the prospects of real estate in the Visayas and Mindanao as it widens its foothold in southern Philippines, where demand for housing, offices and commercial spaces is soaring.
The newly listed company recently acquired a 4.6-hectare property in Bogo City in northern Cebu and will soon unveil projects in Bacolod, Sibulan-Dumaguete and Iloilo. These acquisitions are all funded from the proceeds of its initial public offering of P2.9 billion.
“We acquire properties with the intent of developing them and giving more for the Filipino family,” CLI President and CEO Jose R. Soberano III said.
He was recently named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The subdivision project in Bogo City is envisioned to create 700 socialized-housing units. It will be the second of the company’s Villa Casita socialized-housing series that offers homeowners well-designed homes, well-planned site development and sizable green spaces for parks and community facilities traditionally found only in mid-market or upscale developments.
CLI’s first Villa Casita is in Balamban, Cebu, a first-class municipality approximately 64 kilometers away from Cebu City. The property is in the same barangay as West Cebu Industrial Park, a 274-hectare development employing about 14,000 workers, mostly from shipbuilding and related support services.
“Many of the workers had to travel to and from Balamban to work. Villa Casita provides them with a home, in simplified living spaces, to enjoy the basic necessities of life while surrounded by nature’s elemental beauty,” Soberano said.
CLI is also set to launch within the third quarter of this year an economic-housing development on a 6-hectare coastal property in Sibulan, Negros Oriental. The site is close to the airport and just 15 minutes from the city center of Dumaguete. The property will feature beautifully designed economic communities in coastal living with world-class amenities and open spaces.
A mixed-use property will also be launched on a 1-hectare property located at the heart of Bacolod City in Negros Occidental. It will be the latest edition of CLI’s fast-selling garden series currently in Cebu City, Davao City and Cagayan de Oro City.
The Cebu-based company also recently purchased a 5-hectare property in Jaro, Iloilo, intended to provide more than 500 economic-housing units with facilities and amenities comparable to high-end subdivisions.
Soberano said, “CLI always has the mind-set of adding more to what markets expect from a developer.”
“It is the vision of Cebu Landmasters to be the No. 1 local-housing developer in the Visayas and Mindanao by 2020,” he added.
CLI’s reservation sales during the first half of the year reached P2.87 billion, almost surpassing the P2.94-billion total sales registered for the entire 2016. These figures were mostly driven by the company’s 38 Park Avenue condominium project in Cebu IT Park, MesaTierra Garden Residences in Davao City and Casa Mira South in Naga City, Cebu.