CLI beefs up hotel portfolio

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) is working to establish its own hotel brand starting with the planned Patria de Cebu Hotel.

The listed property firm confirmed the plan yesterday in a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

"For this year, its total hotel rooms in the pipeline will increase to 1,223 after launching Citadines Bacolod, Citadines Paragon, Patria de Cebu and a new hotel in Mactan," CLI said in the stock exchange disclosure.

Aside from beefing up its hotel business, the company is also set to expand its leasing portfolio by increasing the gross leasable area to 161,034 square meters.

The total GLA is a mix of completed and on-going construction projects that will generate lease revenue for the company.

In terms of non-recurring business, the Cebuano developer is scheduled to unveil 7,517 condominium units and 111 hectares of house and lot packages in different key areas in Visayas and Mindanao including new expansion cities of Iloilo and Bohol.

It can be recalled that CLI's proposed Patria de Cebu project became controversial when some sectors opposed its implementation, saying the said property is part of Cebu’s cultural and religious heritage.

Company chief executive Jose Soberano III had assured in a previous interview the project was a go as the developer had to make changes in its proposed mixed-use plan.

The proponents, including the Church, will come up with a win-win solution probably by June, he had said.

CLI and the Archdiocese of Cebu had entered into a P900-million, 40-year lease agreement to redevelop the Patria de Cebu, located in the city's downtown area, into a mixed-use development that will have a Rome-inspired public plaza, offices, integrated retail center and hotel, among others. However, the planned project would include the destruction of the old Patria structure.

Amid the oppositions, the developer has to make revisions on the project design to meet the requirements of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP). (FREEMAN)