Highlands Prime residential project hits P1-B sales mark

Publicly-listed property development firm Highlands Prime Inc. (HPI) has lined up new residential projects in the Tagaytay Highlands area following the successful take-up of its maiden venture, The Woodridge.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, HPI said it has sold 98 of the 138 units of the upscale condominium project, hitting the P1-billion sales mark

"We have turned over 70 percent of the units to Woodridge buyers within a period of 12 to 15 months," HPI president Antonio Henson said.

HPI, controlled by the SM Group of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr., said it will complete two more residential projects over the next five years to cater to the growing demand in the luxury residential-leisure market.

The company will soon launch The Horizon, comprising of 14 clusters of three-bedroom units with an average floor area of 136 square meters each. A total of 214 units will be made available in this project.

Another project in the pipeline is an affordable but high-quality condominium development inside the Tagaytay Midlands complex.

The company is also open to joint venture arrangements with interested parties in order to capitalize its expertise in planning and marketing leisure property projects.

In the first quarter this year, HPI reported a 291-percent growth in its net income to P36.4 million from P9.3 million a year ago. The company registered net sales of P111 million from the sale of Woodrige units and Lakeview Heights subdivision lots, up 34 percent from the previous level.

HPI said it may list additional shares at the stock market by yearend in exchange for the clean property titles turned over by Belle Corp. to the company. These properties are those provided in the property-for-share swap agreement between Belle and HPI.

HPI was spun off as a 100-percent subsidiary of Belle Corp. from the latter’s property assets worth P7.71 billion comprised of undeveloped land, subdivision lots and finished residential units located around the vicinity of the Tagaytay Highlands International Golf Club Inc.

HPI, which was taken over by the SM Group prior to its listing at the exchange in April 2002, was restructured into a property development company focusing primarily on the high-end of the leisure property market.

The company has over 500 hectares of land in Tagaytay City, Laguna and Batangas. This landbank is envisioned to be developed into high-end residential and/or leisure property projects.

The firm, through Belle, has historically generated cash by successfully pre-selling club shares, units or lots in its property projects even under difficult economic conditions.