By Zinnia B. Dela Peña (The Philippine Star) Updated November 22, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Roxaco Land Corp. is stepping up its presence in the affordable housing sector and full-serviced resort markets with plans to penetrate two of the country’s major tourist destinations - Boracay and Bohol - as the company aims to become one of the top Philippine property developers in five to 10 years.
Roxaco Land senior vice president Santiago Elizalde told reporters that the company is in talks with landowners to jointly develop properties in Panglao and Boracay into mixed-use tourism estates.
Located at Station 2, the three-hectare Boracay property is the last remaining attractive area in the island. It will be developed into residential condominium units along with commercial spaces.
The Panglao project, on the other hand, is situated on over 20 hectares of land which could be developed into a hotel resort project in two or three phases.
“If everything goes well, we’ll start construction of the Boracay property no later than April next year. As for the Bohol project, we remain in discussions with the landowners to come up with the right product mix,” Elizalde said.
He said the company is also eyeing properties in Coron and Puerto Princesa in Palawan.
“The lack of hotel rooms has encouraged us to do projects in this segment. While demand is there for tourists to come in, we couldn’t accommodate the influx. With the establishment of hotels and resorts in far flung areas, I think we will be able to compete with our Asian counterparts like Thailand,” he added.
Anya Resort Residences, the first leisure project of Roxaco, sits on a six hectare property in Tagaytay which incorporates an open lot residential portion with a resort component. The hotel to be built, consisting of 20 to 30 suites of between 50 to 60 square meters each, will be managed by Fuego Hotels, the same group that manages Pearl Farm in Davao, Seven Stones in Boracay, Club Punta Fuego, among others.
To take advantage of the huge housing backlog in the country, Roxaco is also looking to develop affordable housing projects in Balayan, Batangas as it aims to strengthen its presence in Southern Luzon.
Roxaco has earmarked P500 million to P600 million for the development of three or four new projects over the next three years.
Roxaco was established by publicly listed Roxas & Co. initially to develop the huge land bank of the Roxas family. The group started with a 40-hectare development in Nasugbu, where most of the lands of the family are located, called Landing Commercial Subdivision.
Roxas and Co. is also engaged in the sugar business, through Central Azucarera Don Pedro Inc. (CADPI) and Central Azucarera dela Carlota Inc.(CACI), and in renewable energy through Roxol Bioenergy Corp.
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