PROPERTY developer DoubleDragon Properties Corp. said it will not delay the construction of its Hotel 101 brand in Boracay Island in Aklan, despite the government’s closure of many resorts in the popular tourist destination.
Marriana H. Yulo, the company’s chief investment officer, said the six-month cleanup of the government will not have any effect on the firm’s construction since its 1,001-room hotel will start its operations in 2020.
“It’s a great thing that the government is cleaning up Boracay. In fact, it’s very good for us when it [the island] reopens because we’re gonna comeback with [a] stronger, more world-class island,” Yulo told reporters at the sidelines of the company’s hotel launch in Taguig City.
“We’re still in the planning and design stages and it also takes time on finalizing your plans and securing the permits so it wouldn’t delay construction,” she said. “For Boracay, I think after the cleanup it should be a ‘win-win’ for all the island developers.”
Hotel 101 Resort-Boracay will rise on a 2-hectare property in the Boracay Newcoast estate.
The hotel is a joint-venture project of DoubleDragon’s unit Hotel of Asia Inc. and Newcoast South Beach Inc., led by its Chairman Enrique Y. Gonzalez.
It will be the fourth Hotel 101 branch after Manila, The Fort in Taguig and Davao City.
Specific areas of the hotel will also be powered by solar panels and will be equipped with a rainwater harvesting system and is expected to be a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) certified development.
DoubleDragon aims to have a total of 5,000 rooms in its Hotel 101-brand portfolio by 2020. Yulo said the company already secured 75 percent of the land it will need to reach this goal.
On Wednesday the company launched its 609-room inside the Bonifacio Global City complex, Taguig City. The hotel will be 33 stories high and will be constructed on a prime 1,224-square-meter lot, right in front of The Fort, one of the early structures when the former military camp was awarded to the private sector for development.
“It’s a very unique business model because we presell the units during the construction period, so it’s low capex [capital expenditure] on our part because the proceeds of the selling activities actually fund the construction,” Yulo said. “We usually fund the working capital during the course of the construction.”
She added the company is selling each unit for P4.95 million each. However, Yulo declined to provide how much the company spent for the project.