New real estate firm to spend P450M for project

By Katlene O. Cacho

Wednesday, November 21, 2012
A NEW player in the real estate industry is going to spend P450 million for the first phase of its two-tower mid-rise building in Banawa.
The amount will also finance development of amenities including swimming pools, a sky garden, a day care center, and a fitness and family entertainment center, according to Sharon Ann Ong, Worldwide Central Properties Inc. (WCPI) vice president for marketing and sales.
WCPI is the real estate arm and a sister company of Worldwide Steel Group and Worldwide Hope Depot, founded just this year.
WCPI president Kent Ong said the real estate company is meant to complement the family’s existing businesses. The family has been in the construction industry for 36 years.
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“The mission now is to build communities,” Kent said in a press conference yesterday.
“We are taking these further, not just in providing construction materials but also building homes for families.”
Sharon said the company’s entry into real estate was spurred by Cebu’s booming economy, driven by the continued growth in the business processing industry and the strong inflows of overseas remittances.
“We believe growth in the industry will continue in the coming years, given the good and stable economic environment we have,” she said.
Their flagship project, named Sundance Residences, sits on a 3,200-square meter property in Banawa. It is a 12-storey medium-rise building whose first tower will initially have 208 units. The Phase one of the construction is scheduled in the second quarter in 2013. Completion and delivery of units is scheduled in 2015.
Sharon said the residential building will cater to the middle to upper-mid market, specifically start-up families living near Capitol, Guadalupe and Banawa.
She said that in Cebu, Guadalupe is one of the most populated areas with six percent or 50,000 of Cebu’s population living there. “We felt that it was high time to have a medium-rise building in that area given also the huge housing backlog,” Sharon said.
Sundance Residences will have studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. Unit prices start at P1.8 million.
Optimistic about the continued growth in the real estate industry, Kent announced that the company is also exploring opportunities in building a horizontal housing development in a two-hectare property in Mactan.
He said the project, which is still on the planning stage, will have 300 units and will be constructed in phases by the second half of 2013.
WCPI has tapped tarchitect Antonio Trillanes Jr. to head the design team and Kenneth Cobonpue to handle the interior design for Sundance Residences.