By Neil Jerome C. Morales (The
Philippine Star) | Updated November 18, 2013 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Upscale property
developer Rockwell Land Corp. will spend more than P7 billion for two new
projects: a high-end office tower in Makati and a residential development in
Cebu.
Strong demand for upscale residential
units already rolled out is expected to jack up reservation sales to a record
P13 billion this year, an official said.
The property firm of the Lopez family
will put up a P5-billion office tower in the Proscenium development in Makati,
Rockwell Land president Nestor Padilla said.
“The fifth tower (in Proscenium) was a
swing whether residential and commercial. After we reviewed the masterplan, it
made sense to make it commercial,” Padilla said, adding that the company is
working on plans to make it the first office building to offer super high speed
internet connection.
Rockwell Land earlier announced it
allotted P26 billion for five towers in the 3.6-hectare Proscenium, which will
generate development income for the next eight years.
The 60-story Iconique Tower, which
will have 70,000 square meters of gross floor area, will begin construction in
2014.
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“We’d like to target technology
companies and multinationals,” Padilla said, adding that the transfer of the
Lopez group into Rockwell will make the community an office campus.
For Rockwell Land’s first development
outside Metro Manila, the listed firm will launch a Cebu residential project
early next year.
“Sales value would be P3.3 billion
plus and capital expenditures would be around P2.5 billion,” Padilla said.
The residential project will feature
five- to six-storey buildings offering around 350 units.
Padilla said Rockwell Land targets
hitting P1.4 billion in net income and P13 billion in reservation sales this
year. In 2012, profits of the property firm reached P1.1 billion while
reservation sales spiked 87 percent to P9.2 billion.
In a filing to the Philippine Stock
Exchange, Rockwell Land said its attributable net income surged by nearly a
third to P923.4 million in January to September from P705.6 million last year.
“The company also continues to
generate strong demand for its products with total reservation sales reaching
P10.9 billion by September, up by 88 percent versus last year,” Rockwell Land
said.
Revenues, mainly derived from sale of
condominium units and commercial leasing, climbed 35 percent to P5.37 billion
from P3.99 billion.
Specifically, the residential development business generated P4.61 billion in revenues, accounting for 86
percent of total revenues. Rockwell Land said residential sales increased due
to the launch of Proscenium, Alvendia and 53 Benitez.
Commercial leasing revenues rose seven
percent to P766.3 million from P716.3 million last year on the back of strong
mall and office space leasing.
“The company spent a total of P5.3
billion, for project and capital expenditures for the nine-month period of
2013, seven percent higher than last year’s P4.9 billion,” Rockwell Land said.
“The expenditures consist mostly of
development costs of Proscenium, Edades, The Grove Phases 2 & 3, 205 Santolan and Lopez Tower projects,” it added.
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