DAVAO CITY, Philippines
— Vista Land’s Camella Communities would open a “thee-enclave” residential project here within the year.
Marlon Nino B. Escalicas, Davao manager of the company, said the development plan for a 27-hectare project at Communal in Buhangin district at the northern part of the city is currently being finalized.
This will become the fourth active project of the company here, together with Cerritos subdivision in Mintal district and Toscana in Puan district, both south of the city, and Northpoint condominium project at the Bajada district just outside downtown.
Mr. Escalicas told BusinessWorld the company has decided to embark on more projects in the city because of the growing market, with about 40% of its buyers described as self-employed individuals and entrepreneurs.
“Our strategy before was to open a new project after one is completed.
But we realized that in Davao City, the residential development is not saturated in one area alone,” he said, pointing out that in the past, some buyers decided to buy units from other developers after finding out that the company did not have any project in areas where they want to live.
Although he would not discuss the specifics of the project including the amount to be invested, Mr. Escalicas said the Communal project would have “three enclaves that will be composed of ‘low-cost’, ‘affordable’ and ‘high-end.’”
A similar approach is currently applied in Cagayan de Oro City’s Gran Europa project. The three segments would have separate gates but would have a common village center, an area where commercial spaces would be made available to concessionaires.
The “low-cost” housing segment in the Communal project will have at least 60-square-meter lots with 44-meter houses under a townhouse concept. The “affordable” section will have 120-square-meter areas with bigger houses, while the “high-end” area will not only have bigger lots but would also have wider access roads.
The planned village center in Communal, which is a 30-minute drive to downtown, will have five hectares. The company, he said, will give priority to locators who have been partners in other projects. “This is among the pipeline projects this year,” he said, pointing out that the lot cuts for the three enclaves have yet to be finalized.
The city government earlier said that property development has continued to be an attractive investment area even if it has scrapped incentives for such projects. Jason C. Magnaye, head of the investment promotion arm of the city government, said that based on the applications submitted to his office, many companies are investing in property development because of the growing market.
“We just have to come up with a comprehensive plan that will address the environmental issues like how to prevent flooding in the city,” Mr. Magnaye told BusinessWorld earlier.
source: Camella.com.ph
By: Carmelito Q. Francisco of BusinessWorld Online
