[ manilastandardtoday.com ] December 10, 2009
There’s another Pacman in town, and it’s not the group of telecom honcho Manuel V. Pangilinan or the growing empire of investment banker Roberto V. Ongpin.
It’s SM Development Corp., the property arm of retail tycoon Henry Sy. The property firm is slowly building up its landbank and parlaying new lot acquisitions into office and residential condominiums.
The grapevine said SMDC recently bought the one-hectare, 86-room Danarra Hotel and Resort from the family of hotel president and general manager Mario Sarmiento for about P350 million. Mario is the son of patriarch Don Pablo Sarmiento, who owns listed Vitarich Corp., along with brothers Feliciano and Lorenzo. Another son of Don Pablo, Angelito, is the mayor of San Jose del Monte town in Bulacan and a former congressman of the province.
The grapevine said SMDC would take over Danarra Hotel in January next year, tear it down and build a high-rise office condominium to take advantage of the area’s strategic location. Danarra Hotel, a favorite hangout in the 70’s and 80’s, sits on a one-hectare property in Quezon City’s South Triangle, also called Timog Triangle. The hotel is sandwiched between Panay Avenue and Eugenio Lopez St. and just adjacent to television network ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.
SMDC’s Danarra Hotel’s acquisition followed the purchase of three new properties worth close to P2 billion last month. SMDC bought a one-hectare property near Welcome Rotonda in Quezon City, where it plans to build two residential condominiums under the Sun Residences brand. The Welcome Rotonda property was the site of a popular girlie bar in the 70’s.
SMDC also acquired a two-hectare lot along Jupiter Street in Makati City, where it plans to construct four residential towers called Jazz Residences. SMDC’s third acquisition is located on a two-hectare property in Mandaluyong City near the Boni Station of MRT 3, where the company plans to build Light Residences.
Hotel in debts
The grapevine said the Sarmiento family had to give up Danarra Hotel because of the hotel’s piling debt now estimated at over P400 million. The family also needed the money to revitalize Vitarich, which has just come out from court rehabilitation.
The hotel property in the late 50’s and 60’s originally served as the seven-bedroom house of Don Pablo and wife Doña Eufrocina and their nine children—Angelito, Leonila, Pablo Jr., Imelda, Myrna (deceased), Oscar, Eulogio, Mario and Carlito.
Don Pablo, sensing a business opportunity, transformed the one-hectare property into a lodging business. The house was often near-empty because Don Pablo’s children were almost always abroad for education.
The Sarmientos in 1964 converted their house into Tourist Hometel and in 1975 transformed it into a full-blown hotel business complete with a food and beverage service.
They renamed the expanded facility to Danarra Hotel, a name they borrowed from the popular plywood brand that the Sarmiento family produced and exported. Danarra plywood is derived from two popular local trees—Dao and Narra.
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