On path to recovery, PhilRealty bets on One Balete

MANILA, Philippines - A year after exiting a corporate rehabilitation program that lasted over a decade, Philippine Realty and Holdings Corp. is all set to make its mark anew in the property sector as it launches the upscale One Balete community project in Quezon City.

PhilRealty will focus on offering end-users with generous living space in an intimate community, setting itself apart from shoebox concepts that have mushroomed in the metropolis, its officials said.

“We are guided by our continuing thrust to offer large, quality living spaces within accessible locations and secure environments,” said PhilRealty chief operating officer Joser Santos.

“We make sure that these values are satisfied with in every project that we pursue and that we go beyond what everybody else in our segment has been doing,” Santos added.

In April, PhilRealty started pre-selling units in the Sky Villas, the second of five towers to rise

in the two-hectare One Balete community. The 31-story Sky Villas offer 112 premium cuts with an average floor area of 205 square meters (sqm), allowing only four units per floor.

The real estate firm has so far sold 30 percent of the units at P145,000 per sqm, said PhilRealty’s customer experience officer Camille Lanuza.

“For Sky Villas, I was given a challenge to provide an upscale, vertical residential development where the owner will feel as if he is actually living in a house,” said renowned architect Roger Villarosa.

Architectural firm R. Villarosa is the company pioneering private residential communities such as Forbes Park Alabang, Corinthian Gardens and Valle Verde, as well as EDSA Shangri-La Hotel, Radisson Hotel Cebu and Palm’s Country Club.

Villarosa said for tenants to live comfortably in residential towers, the units have to be large enough to accommodate a growing family.

“More and more, people are realizing they want to invest in larger units. They want the feeling of a home,” said Jose Ramon Olives, vice president for marketing of PhilRealty.

One Balete, formerly Andrea North, in Quezon City will offer five residential towers composed of 800 units, avoiding high density while ensuring the appreciation of property prices, Olives said.

Residents of the Sky Villas will enjoy One Balete’s amenities including the fitness gym, business lounge, library, meeting room and swimming pool.

Every unit has a generous floor-to-ceiling height of up to 3.1 meters, full-height windows per room and light wells in the living and third bedroom.

Each bedroom will come with full-sized Canadian cabinets, luxurious bathrooms with frameless glass shower enclosures and premier fixtures by Grohe and Kohler.

“Sky Villas intends to show the market the genuine definition of a well-rounded urban lifestyle by offering the best of both worlds -- the warmth and comfort of your own suburban home and the convenience of condominium living -- and by making every corner of this development a masterpiece to behold,” said PhilRealty executive vice president Nico Lanuza.

PhilRealty developed upscale projects in Ortigas Center including the Tektite Towers, the former headquarters of the Philippine Stock Exchange, and luxury mid-rise residential condominium Alexandra.

Reeling under debt for 12 years, the property firm exited corporate rehabilitation program in April last year. The company filed for rehabilitation with the courts after it was saddled with around P3 billion in losses following a slump in the real estate industry in 1997.