Amisa breaks ground in Mactan

Still bullish with Cebu’s potential as a tourism destination, Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC) recently pushed through with the ground breaking of its first leisure complex project at the Punta Engaño in Mactan.

RLC’s assistant vice president for leisure and retirement Trina B. Cipriano said that the company remains to be bullish in Cebu because of the positive outcome of their pre-selling period.

She said that despite the slowdown caused by the current global financial crisis, the take ups for their units have been quite good and they were able to sell out several units for the first two towers that they will deliver this coming 2010 and 2011.

Amisa will be a resort community comprised of a hotel and six towers of residential condominiums which will be undertaken for the next eight years.

 The project sets in a prime 5-hectare property with a 170-meter beachfront in Punta Engaño and its design took inspiration from Australia’s vibrant Gold Coast architectural landscape, said Cipriano.

“Amisa is such a huge investment because we believe in the area and we are very bullish because we have a very strong end user market that prefer trusted real estate developers who can really deliver their projects like Robinsons Land,” said Cipriano.

 She stressed that despite the toll of the current global economic crisis on the real estate sector, their company remains bullish and is riding on their reputation to achieve successful sales figures.

 “In times of crisis, people look for reliable developers who can deliver their projects on time and our company has been able to prove itself in the market so our sales are still going up,” she added.

She said that the strategic positioning of Cebu as a beautiful leisure destination also keeps them bullish in their developments in the area.

“This development will give us an opportunity to tap the market in Vis-Min regions. Since we started selling, we have received a good mix of Filipino and foreign buyers because even Cebuano themselves look for quality developments now a days,” she said.

At the moment, RLC is already pre-selling for the second tower because most units have been taken up in the first tower in which construction will be started immediately after the recent ground breaking.

“We won’t be starting building the first tower if we have not sold the units yet. The take up is good and we have already sold a lot of units,” said Cipriano.

She said that despite the worries of some real estate developers, RLC is not anxious of being affected with recessions in most major foreign markets because they target a good mix of locals and foreigners.

Amisa’s first tower will be comprised of 14 storeys and hold 136 units while the second tower will stand at 18 storeys high and will hold 155 units.

The units in these two towers is currently priced at P3.1 million to as high as P3.3 million for a studio unit and P5.2 million for a two-bedroom unit.

Cipriano said that this magnitude is the first-of-its kind leisure development that will be undertaken by the company which puts together several business components of RLC.

She revealed that they are also currently looking at the prospect of partnering with an international hotel group for their hotel development in Amisa, which will be undertaken after the eight towers are completed.

RLC is currently the country’s second largest diversified real estate player which serves as the real estate arm of JG Summit Holdings Inc., one of the country's largest conglomerates involved in the development and operation of shopping malls and hotels, mixed-use properties, office buildings, residential condominiums, branded consumer foods, agro-industrial and commodity food products, textile, telecommunications, petrochemicals, air transportation and financial services.