Posted on June 24, 2014 09:51:14 PM [
BusinessWorld Online ]
REAL ESTATE developer Shang
Properties, Inc. will invest more than P20 billion until 2015 on five projects
under construction, which are intended to tap the “tremendous interest” by
investors for real estate.
Its latest residential project in
Makati City, The Rise, currently costs P97,000 per square meter, and Shang
Executive Director Wilfred Woo said they hope the price would go up to more
than P100,000 per square meter.
“It seems like the people’s interest
in buying is tremendous,” Mr. Woo told reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of
the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting at Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Manila.
He said the current price of the
63-storey building, which is expected to be finished by 2017, is already a
result of two price increases in the past, and as of Monday, the company has
already received reservation checks for 790 units, out of the 2,822 saleable
units.
Construction is expected to be completed
by the second quarter of 2015 for its Horizon Homes at Shangri-La Hotel, which
has 98 residential units that cost P250,000-P300,000 per square meter.
“We feel that our product is one of
the best in the area so we price accordingly,” Mr. Woo said of the property in
Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.
“We feel there is more room to
increase the prices.”
Its annual report showed that
construction costs for the 62-storey luxury hotel and residential development
ended up at around P18 billion.
Mr. Woo said the company is also
spending a “substantial amount of money” in renovations and maintenance to
maintain the “prestige” and “prime status” of its existing buildings.
Renovations for The Enterprise Center,
a 13-year-old office building at the Makati central business district (CBD), is
expected to cost the company around P300 million
It also allocated around P1.7 million
for the refurbishing of the 22-year-old Main Wing of the Shangri-La Plaza in
Ortigas Center.
The East Wing, which was opened in
March 2013, is projected to increase revenues by 30% this year.
Another project is Shang Salcedo
Place, a luxury residential building in Makati CBD, which has already sold 32% or
245 out of 763 units after it was launched in 2012. Its total sales as of
end-2013 hit almost P1.7 billion.
The 64-storey One Shangri-La Place in
Ortigas Center, on the other hand, is already 86% sold, or 1,102 of 1,304
units. The project cost is pegged at P1.1 billion, but as of end-2013, sales
hit P10.8 billion.
Mr. Woo said the company is
“optimistic” on the property market and is now looking for land in Makati City,
Ortigas Center and Fort Bonifacio as it has exhausted its Metro Manila land
bank.
Shang’s subsidiaries are Shangri-La
Plaza Corp.; SPI Parking Services, Inc.; Shang Properties Realty Corp.; EPHI
Logistics Holdings, Inc.; Shang Global City Holdings, Inc.; Shang Fort
Bonifacio Holdings, Inc.; Shang Property Management Services Corp.; Shang
Property Developers, Inc.; and KSA Realty Corp.
First-quarter net income rose 21.5% to
P2.303 billion year on year, as gross revenue similarly grew 27% to P6.9
billion. Costs and expenses increased 28% to P3.849 billion.
Shang Properties shares were unchanged
at P3.30. -- Daphne J. Magturo
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