Raising the bar

By Ayala Land, Inc. standards, bringing its first leisure community, Anvaya Cove, to market has been fast-paced, indeed. It took two years of scouting around provinces south of Metro Manila before the company settled on a property in Morong, Bataan held for the past 10 years by private company, Subic Bay Development Corp.

The resort will be formally launched this Thursday. By the end of the month, ALI will get its license to sell membership shares, a requirement for buyers of resort lots.

"Anvaya Cove is a joint venture between ALI and SUDECO. This is our first foray in leisure communities that cater to the recreational and retirement needs of our traditional high-end customers. Admittedly, we are not the trailblazer in this area but we will make sure that we will raise the bar, not just for ourselves but for the industry as well, " said president and chief executive officer Jaime Ayala.

Massive

The scale of Anvaya Cove is massive. The resort covers 320 hectares of gently rolling terrain fronting four mountain views, a 3.5-kilometer strip of coastline, and thick forests of mango and narra trees.

"It’s a unique proposition of both mountain and sea environments not otherwise present in existing resort projects. It is also minutes away from the bustling Subic Bay Freeport," said vice-president and group head for leisure and lifestyle communities Ma. Victoria Anonuevo.

The resort will be developed by clusters.

Cluster 1, which is called the Cliffside, will be the first to be developed. Consisting of 15 neighborhoods or phases with 138 lots, it will account for more than half of the resort.

Lots range in size from 475 to 1,600 square meters and are priced anywhere from P6,900 to P12,800. Without VAT per square meter, depending on the view.

Cluster 1 is estimated to cost around P3.2 billion to develop and will be open by 2007, with the completion of the clubhouse and the construction of some houses of early buyers.

"The development of the entire property will take 10 to 15 years. When fully completed, the entire resort will contain 2,000 to 2,500 houses," said Anonuevo.

Bullish

The decision to enter the highly competitive leisure communities market is part of ALI’s long-term growth strategy, which brought in total revenues of P18.1 billion last year, up 24.5% from 2003. Net income of P3 billion in 2004 was up 11% from the previous year and was the highest profit level generated by the company since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

"Our proven strengths are innovation, commitment to quality, and the ability to move with scale," said chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala and Jaime Ayala in the company’s 2004 annual report. "The industry has been exhibiting encouraging signs of renewed vigor, thanks to factors such as record inflows of OFW remittances invested in real estate properties, low interest rates, steadily growing consumer retail spending, and a fast-growing service sector niches–business process outsourcing."

ALI’s response to market trends has been to expand away from its traditional market in Makati City and to diversify its product range to include leisure communities.