Nurturing protected parks for a greener future

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Category: Properties

Published on Tuesday, 25 June 2013 19:04

RECOGNIZED as one of the Philippines’s national symbols, the narra tree’s rich reddish brown color and resistance to fungi and insects have made it a popular choice for sculptures, installations and furniture. However, the demand for narra wood has left its population critically endangered, marred by illegal logging activities.

In an effort to restore environmental balance and nurture nature’s treasures, Greenfield Development Corp. has made one of its master-planned communities, Greenfield City in Santa Rosa, the home of thousands of indigenous tree seedlings, including the endangered narra.

Spearheaded by the Philippine League of Local Environment and Natural Resources Officers (PLLENRO) and in cooperation with the City of Santa Rosa, Greenfield City served as the venue for a massive tree-planting activity commemorating Earth Day in which several representatives from various Santa Rosa businesses participated.

More than 1,000 endemic narra trees, as well as bitaog, pink tabebuia and butterfly trees, were planted on a 5000-square-meter lot along United Boulevard. “Each tree has the capacity to absorb 8 kg of carbon dioxide per year, collectively contributing to the massive reduction of greenhouse gases,” said lawyer Duane AX Santos, executive vice president of Greenfield Development Corp.

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“Endemic tree species like narra are protected by environmental laws. Over the years, we hope to grow these trees into rich, vibrant forests that serve as an enduring legacy to the next generation,” added Santos.

In its 50-year legacy of land stewardship and real-estate development, Greenfield always made environmental conscientiousness an integral part of its projects. Its largest development yet, Greenfield City, is patterned after a park-living concept, putting a premium on open spaces and nature and providing a suburban feel.

Greenfield City’s 30-hectare Pramana, the country’s first residential park, devotes more than half of its space to tree-lined roads, playgrounds, manicured lawns, pocket parks and green buffer zones amid Zen-inspired homes and amenities. Pramana and the company’s other residential offering in Santa Rosa, Solen Residences, feature sprawling greenery and vast open spaces that promise to bring back one’s sense of childhood. These properties were developed not only with a park, but within a park.

Greenfield City’s outlet hub, Paseo de Santa Rosa, offers a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere and an open-air and park-feel alternative to congested shopping malls, featuring restaurants and outlet stores amid sprawling greenery. Additionally, the 65-hectare Greenfield Auto Park, an industrial center amid close to a thousand endemic trees and plants, observes strict waste-management protocols and recycled water for irrigation.

All these efforts stem from Greenfield’s enduring commitment to develop thriving lands and communities for the future. “We are nurturing the lands of our founders to move and inspire generations to come,” Santos said.

www.greenfield.com.ph

Reliving Green in the heart of the city

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Published on Tuesday, 25 June 2013 19:07

Written by Lindy P.

WHAT is better than an open breathing space to live in, especially in highly urbanized areas, which are usually hard to find these days? When you tell people that you live in a city, they immediately think that you live a fast-paced lifestyle. Gardens, on the other hand, conjure up images of peacefulness and privacy of the outdoors, meticulously cultivated for communion with nature. Both are valued for different reasons and speak volumes of the spirit of a location.

Ayala Land has a rich history of building large-scale, master-planned, mixed-use and sustainable communities. It is a heritage that is preserved with Ayala Center—a thriving urban destination that is currently home to Glorietta and Greenbelt, and a proud hotel row that includes Raffles and Fairmont Makati.

In 2009 Ayala Land Premier (ALP) promoted effortless living through Park Terraces. November 2012 marked yet another milestone for ALP with the launch of Garden Towers, a two-tower residential community integrated into Ayala Center’s multibillion-peso redevelopment. Perfectly proportioned to urban lifestyles, it features lush pockets of greens and generous spaces that offer a different kind of living dimension.

As ALP celebrates its newest residential community—Garden Towers has partnered with some of the notable game changers in the arts, fashion, lifestyle and wellness, who exhibited the same vision in promoting a natural and sustainable lifestyle, including the stirring works and testaments of Chef Myke “Tatung” Sarthou; jewelry designer Arnel Papa; accessory designer Adante Leyesa; fashion designer Dita Sandico-Ong; furniture designer Vito Selma; Bikram Yoga instructor Tristan Choa; and Plana Forma instructor Julie de Luna Alagde; “Spotlight on Green” illustrates how nature has inspired them in their chosen passion and fields.

“These artists have demonstrated through their own fields of work that urban living can coexist with sustainability and wellness,” shared Leya Moya, Ayala Land Premier project head.  “We share the same vision of transforming communities into sound environments of work, play and respite.  Testament to this are our developments like Anvaya Cove in Bataan, Ayala Greenfield Estates, Ayala Westgrove Heights, Nuvali in Laguna and One Serendra in Bonifacio Global City.”

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Moya explained that “ALP has long-established its efforts of incorporating green in its developments, but were farther from the city. However, a similar kind of lifestyle has been demonstrated in highly urban addresses, thus the concept of Garden Towers came about.”

Moya also added that “the preference of urban dwellers when it comes to choosing a home in the city is already beyond lavish amenities,” added Moya. “Garden Towers enriches this iconic lifestyle setting with carefully planned sequence of atmospheres—one that creates a natural refuge for our home buyers from their hectic urban schedule.” 

Themes of natural light and air consistently invigorate life at Garden Towers. The garden experience begins with a seamless integration into Palm Promenade—Glorietta’s landscaped concourse. Welcoming residents to their home is a green lobby core that astonishes your every homecoming. Continuing throughout the towers are sky gardens with 20-sq-m pockets of green that lets residents share an uncommon park experience high above the city.

In place of the traditional balcony is a new sunroom concept—an all-weather indoor-outdoor space, with floor-to-ceiling windows bathing this exceptional room in a feeling of lightness. Be it for reading, working, or meditation, the waterproof wooden deck encourages all these activities that you get in touch with nature.  A framework of architectural green spaces within the convenient hub of Ayala Center, Garden Towers nurtures every opportunity to make life your very own.

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In Photo: Garden Towers Building and Garden Towers Sky Villa living room.

The Net Group wins international property awards

Category: Properties

Published on Tuesday, 25 June 2013 19:09

Written by AP Jones Lang LaSalle

AFTER garnering an International Property Award in 2012 for Office Development, leading boutique office developer, The Net Group (TNG), has won yet again another award.  Net Lima currently waves the banner for Best Development Marketing, which was garnered during the recent Asia Pacific Property Awards 2013 in Kuala Lumpur.

The Asia Pacific Property Awards is a subcategory of the International Property Awards, which celebrates “the highest levels of achievement by companies operating in all sectors of the property and real-estate industry.” Judged by a highly experienced team of professionals, the awards are split worldwide into nine regions.

The Net Group, the biggest office developer in Bonifacio Global City, was recognized for the marketing of its latest boutique office building, Net Lima on Fifth Avenue and 26th Street. The ground-breaking development is now the address of leading multinational companies as well as firms that run global in-house centers. It is positioned as a showcase of ecologically responsible “green” architecture representing the firm’s next generation of iconic and ecologically responsive buildings.

Net Lima further won media and public attention as the pilot project for the Philippines’s very own green building rating system, Building for Ecologically Responsive Design Excellence, or Berde.

The Net Group has focused its efforts on the emerging Taguig business district. Founded and led by the entrepreneurial partners Jacques Dupasquier, TNG chairman, and Carlos Rufino, TNG president, the group pioneered the “boutique IT office building” concept in the country with its Net One Center, among the first office buildings in Bonifacio Global City.

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Net One was soon followed by Net Square, Net Cube, Net Quad and Net Plaza. Net Lima is part of a three-building complex called Net Metropolis, which will include Net Park and Ascott Serviced Residences. Net Lima is the first to rise in the complex and the sixth in the series of intelligent office buildings owned by the group. The Net Group has outdone bigger property companies in Taguig’s highly preferred business district and owns 54.5 percent of gross leasable space in the area. For these achievements, The Net Group’s management was named in 2010 as the Entrepreneurship Team of the Year by the Asia CEO Awards.

Dupasquier, who came up with the boutique office concept in 1999, observed: “It is a great honor for us to be recognized by the International Property Awards for our work in Net Lima and other properties. We are also proud that Fortune 500 companies and prominent corporations call Net Lima and the other buildings in our portfolio their home.”

Rufino noted: “Net Lima is driven by our core social responsibility toward sustainable building practices. We have combined visionary design by Chad Oppenheim with key learnings on sustainability from the rollout of our first tranche of building developments. We will continue to implement our mission to be a sustainable and cutting-edge office developer in our succeeding projects.”

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In Photo: The first building to rise in The Net Metropolis at BGC.

2013 targets likely to be raised–NEDA

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Category: Top News

Published on Tuesday, 25 June 2013 22:10

Written by Cai U. Ordinario

The government is likely to revise the country’s growth targets for 2013 on the back of the economy’s performance in the first quarter and the strong macroeconomic fundamentals.

At the sidelines of the media briefing on the Philippines Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (PH-CPEIR) on Tuesday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan, however, made it clear the government was still in the process of crunching the numbers.

The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) is the interagency committee tasked to set the country’s macroeconomic targets. The chairman of the committee is Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad and the co-chairman is Balisacan, who is also National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) director general.

“Why not? If it’s good for the economy, why not? [But] the targets, basically, [require us to] look at the fundamentals, look at the impact of the various sectors. For example, your target affects your revenue generation and also affects your spending programming so hindi basta-basta pinapalitan lang ’yan [it cannot just be changed],” Balisacan told reporters.

One of the possible growth drivers would be the peso, whose depreciation allows overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to realize gains as the higher peso equivalent their dollar remittances would increase their spending power.

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This would enable them to spend more, which would significantly contribute to household consumption, one of the major drivers of the Philippine economy. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recently reported that cash remittances from OFWs coursed through the banking system grew by 5.7 percent in the first four months of the year to $6.9 billion.

The strong remittance inflow was cited by Balisacan in a previous forum as one of the factors that could boost the country’s full-year gross domestic product (GDP) to exceed 7 percent.

Apart from remittances, Balisacan noted that the economy was now stronger, so much so that external shocks do not easily affect GDP growth. Balisacan said, “a good part of our growth is domestic.”

“Our macroeconomic fundamentals are pretty solid. The real sector of the economy, the real fundamentals are very strong so we are not as vulnerable as we used to be in the 1980s or even in the 1990s,” Balisacan said. 

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) attributed the 7.8-percent GDP growth in the first quarter of 2013 to the “upbeat business and consumer sentiment” and strong government consumption. 

The first-quarter growth is the highest so far under the Aquino administration and also the third consecutive quarter of more than 7-percent GDP increments.

BSP: We’ll weather volatilities

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Published on Wednesday, 26 June 2013 21:34

Written by Bianca Cuaresma

Volatilities in the Philippine financial markets caused by a possible cut in the fiscal stimulus program of the United States is seen as temporary and should not cause a breach in the central bank’s inflation target, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Wednesday.

According to BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr., the central bank will “maintain its strategic market presence” in the local currencies market, both to avoid excessive volatilities and to provide appropriate market guidance.

“If you look at the portfolio flows, year-to-date, it is still positive, substantially more than the net inflow we saw last year. So I really think this [market volatility] is just temporary,” Tetangco said at the sidelines of the forum hosted by The Asset, a financial industry publication, held at the Hotel InterContinental in Makati City.

The central bank governor said that while global events caused volatilities in the country, its domestic strength should continue to support the Philippines once the markets adjust to the changing global conditions. 

He again cited the country’s strong fundamentals, its sound banking system, robust external position and the country’s adequate liquidity conditions, saying these details are “undeniable [proof], not clichés and should not be taken lightly.” 

He also said the BSP does not see consumer prices rising quickly and pose a threat to inflation as a result of the current state of the local financial markets. 

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“I don’t think there will be a significant change from the outlook of the BSP; inflation being closer to the lower end of the target range for this year,” Tetangco said. 

“We are confident we will be able to meet our inflation targets this year and next year,” he quickly added. The inflation forecast that the BSP regularly releases as part of its signaling mechanism is expected this week. 

Tetangco expressed confidence the Philippines would bounce back soon enough and reiterated the futility of imposing capital controls and other restrictions to calm the market. 

“The Philippine fundamentals are solid, and we have built up safeguards to ride out the volatilities.  Therefore… at the moment…there is no need for us to deviate from our current policy stance. 

“Our thrust has been to allow reasonable access to domestic-dollar liquidity for legitimate foreign-exchange obligations and entry into markets, consistent with our inflation and financial stability objectives. We are not veering away from that basic policy. We are not looking at capital controls right now,” he added. 

The BSP governor also said volatility is inevitable and part of the continuous integration of global markets. 

“Times like these remind me of the one clear fact I have learned, first as head of BSP’s Treasury and now as BSP governor: ‘There is always volatility on the way to recovery. The road to recovery is never a straight path.’ And the one clear lesson I have learned from periods of volatility is this: ‘Keep the main things, main.’  In other words, focus on your goal and don’t be distracted because volatility is inevitable,” Tetangco said. 

“Our financial markets have been affected by the recent global developments because financial markets have become increasingly integrated.  We pushed hard to achieve investment-grade rating precisely because, in a globally integrated market, the independent rating of a credit-rating agency helps market participants distinguish between good and better investment destinations,” he added. 

Tetangco also said that while all these events helped erode the value of the peso and sapped confidence among equities investors, such market action was a “good thing” because it helped reduce the likelihood of asset bubbles forming. 

“This market price action is a good thing. It is good because it helps put a brake somehow on the exuberance, and thereby helps reduce some of the risks from bubble formation in certain asset classes that could lead to more financial market imbalances… the process could actually create opportunities for those who keep their eye on the ball,” he said.

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1st residents to start living in SRP soon

By Mia A. Aznar

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

AS they unveiled plans for their commercial and retail development at the South Road Properties, officials of Filinvest Land Inc. also revealed that Cebu can expect the first residents to start living in the SRP soon.

First vice president for Visayas and Mindanao cluster Tristan Las Marias said their mid-rise condominium for the upper middle class, Amalfi Oasis, is about ready for turnover of 200 units in its first building. As for the second building, he said they are finalizing touch-ups and hope they can turn over units before September.

Las Marias added that the third building is about 60 percent sold and that they have completed construction of the five stories and finishing architectural details.

They expect to complete the clubhouse and pool in six months after just awarding the project to a contractor. They have been promoting the pool as the biggest in Cebu.

The Amalfi Oasis units are two-bedroom units with an area of 60 square meters. Units are sold for P6 million.

As for the affordable version of the project, the San Remo Oasis, they expect to turn over 150 units by the third quarter of the year. He revealed this comes ahead of their turnover commitment to buyers, most of whom are overseas Filipinos based in Europe and around Asia. The second, third and fourth buildings are in the touch- up stages and can be turned over before the year ends.

The two-bedroom, 32-square meter units are sold for P2.5 million. Although cheaper, Las Marias assured they will have similar amenities as Amalfi Oasis as they have the same courtyard style layout.

The developers have also finished the design if a five-hectare public park that they will develop across the Il Corso commercial and retail complex.

Las Marias said they want to draw more people to the SRP and have them experience a part of their Citta di Mare lifestyle. They expect to award the contract in two months and if completed soon, they hope to hold a Sinulog party there. The opening of the park will coincide with the opening of the Filinvest Visitor’s Centre, which they are building near the side of the main South Coastal Road.

Filinvest Land recently presented plans for Il Corso, which is the area facing the water of the SRP. It currently undergoing site development and is expected to begin construction of buildings next year. For Project inquiry, contact us at 09173236123.

Aboitiz selects Lapu-Lapu as outlet mall site

By Jessica S. Losorata

Saturday, June 15, 2013

THE first outlet mall in the Visayas and Mindanao by homegrown property developer AboitizLand Inc. demonstrates Cebu’s bustling retail scene and the south’s vibrant economy, officials said yesterday during the groundbreaking ceremony in Lapu-Lapu City.

Officials said The Outlets is scheduled to rise in Pueblo Verde, Mactan Economic Zone 2 in the last quarter of this year in time for retail’s peak season.

AboitizLand project development assistant vice president Rafael Fernandez de Mesa said Cebu’s capability to accommodate direct investments, including global brands, shows the evolution of the province’s commerce and purchasing power.

De Mesa said Cebu’s growing population and central location for tourism buoyed the decision to choose the province to host AboitizLand’s pioneer outlet mall.

He said The Outlets is an independent leasable mall of about 3,000 square meters that is “designed to redefine the shopping and tourism experience in the south.”

He added that it will also aim to integrate Pueblo Verde’s range of commercial and corporate establishments, which include restaurants, supermarkets, financial institutions and offices.

Wider market

De Mesa said the outlet stores in the country are only in Luzon, specifically in Laguna, Pampanga and Subic, for now.

AboitizLand commercial business unit manager Clifford M. Academia said the awareness of industry players to adopt an international business concept, such as outlet stores, is in sync with Cebu’s retail confidence.

Academia said the retail sector needs facilities or models such as The Outlets for businesses to extend their products and services to a wider market.

Gracing the ceremony yesterday, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza acknowledged The Outlets as a “stellar addition” to the city’s brisk commercial and tourism communities.

Radaza mentioned that in 2012, Lapu-Lapu ranked second only to Manila and was also among the top 10 in tourist and domestic travel traffic, respectively.

“Now that mall developments like The Outlets are starting to sprout in our metropolis, we have bright forecasts that Lapu-Lapu will emerge as another favorite shopping destination in the south,” Radaza said.

De Mesa said The Outlets will highlight global brands at discounted prices. The list includes Nike, Adidas, Bench, Oakley, Levi’s Dockers, Timberland and Reef.

The Outlets can hold up to 24 spaces per brand. He said Nike and Adidas acquired close to 300 square meters while Bench got 400.

According to De Mesa, The Outlets, which was conceptualized in less than a year, required an initial investment of about P60 million.

“We wanted to communicate that The Outlets is planned with the merchants, unlike other projects which are marketed only after construction. On the business side, it’s effective that way,” De Mesa emphasized.

He said the idea was also realized because of the receptiveness of participating merchants.

Nike Factory Store (NFS) directors Chris Monteron and Jeremias Posadas expressed optimism on their collaboration with AboitizLand.

With Cebu rising as a power economy, Posadas said, the company is hoping to establish in the south a fan base for originality, quality and value.

Monteron said every NFS item at The Outlets is discounted for up to 70 percent, but meets US standard product specifications.

NFS-Cebu at The Outlets is now the third official NFS nationwide since the company’s inception in Pampanga in 2008, followed by the one in Laguna.