Posted on May 17, 2011 10:58:55 PM [ BusinessWorld Online ]
ETON PROPERTIES Philippines, Inc. plans to increase its presence in the hotel industry with four new projects in the pipeline, an official said on Monday.
ETON PROPERTIES Philippines, Inc. plans to put up a hotel here at Eton Centris in Quezon City in line with plans to build similar developments in Makati and Pasig. The Lucio C. Tan-led firm is reportedly in talks with foreign hotel operators.
For one project, the Lucio C. Tan-led firm is already negotiating with foreign partners to operate a Quezon City development, the official said.
“We are talking to a Singaporean group,” Danilo E. Ignacio, president of Eton Properties, said in a briefing.
The Singaporean firm will lend its brand and operate a boutique hotel at the 12-hectare mixed-use township development dubbed Eton Centris.
Eton Properties is looking at putting up one hotel each in Makati and Ortigas Center in Pasig.
For Makati, Mr. Ignacio said Eton Properties will allot seven storeys out of the 40-storey Eton Tower Makati.
“We talked for the management [deal]. One is European and the other is Singaporean,” he said, refusing to name the companies.
Furthermore, Mr. Ignacio said the real estate firm will buy a 35-hectare beachfront Cebu property near Hilton Cebu Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City. The lot will be developed to include a hotel, a residential condominium and garden villas.
“We want to make it a very high-end project,” Mr. Ignacio said.
“If you look at the government’s thrust, it is on tourism. It is ripe to go to that business,” Mr. Ignacio added.
These will come on top of developments owned by Lucio Tan group: the Century Park Hotel in Manila and the The Charter House in Makati.
Eton Properties Group, the China-based real estate firm of Mr. Tan, is also looking at opening three more hotels in this East Asian state to cater to growing numbers of business and leisure travellers, according to earlier reports. It owns a five-star hotel in Shanghai.
In the meantime, Eton Properties will start building this year a portion of its residential project at the 12-hectare Eton Centris site.
“We will sign the [construction] agreement this year... December 2015 will be the completion and turnover [of the first tower],” Mr. Ignacio said.
The three-tower Ascent is targeted to be the first luxury residential offering in the area.
Ascent studio units will sell for an average price of P2.9 million, one-bedroom units at P3.7 million, two-bedroom units at P7.1 million and three-bedroom units at P11 million.
The first tower will be 29 storeys with around 200 to 250 units, followed by the 33-storey and 37-storey towers two and three, Erwin M. de Pedro, senior assistant vice-president for marketing of Eton Properties, said in the same briefing.
Eton Properties has launched a total of 41 projects.
Shares in Eton Properties, whose profits grew by 7.4% to P199 million in the first quarter, were unchanged at P3.30 each yesterday. -- Neil Jerome C. Morales
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