Avida Land allots P7B for residential projects

Avida Land Corp., the middle-income housing arm of property giant Ayala Land Inc., is setting aside P7 billion over the next five years for the development of 16 residential condominium towers within Metro Manila to take advantage of the growing demand for affordable residential products.

In a press briefing yesterday, Avida president and chief executive officer Leo Montenegro said each new tower will have an average of 375 units or a total of 6,000 units.  For this year alone, the company is aiming to put up nearly 1,800 residential units, reflecting its bullishness on the property sector which remains on the upswing due to continued robust remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), unprecedented low interest rates, longer term financing and a booming economy.

For its latest venture, Avida is constructing a P1-billion twin-tower residential building in a 6,400 square meter property along Malugay, Yakal and Lumbyao streets in San Antonio Village, Makati.  The project is in joint venture with Equimark-NFC Development Corp.

The project dubbed Avida Towers Makati West will have a total of 861 units with the first tower expected to house 462 units. 

Montenegro expects Makati West to be its crown jewel because of its proximity to the Makati business district.

Funding will come from internally-generated cash and proceeds from preselling activities, Montenegro said.

Over the last four years, the company has launched a total of 2,520 units. It now has 27 projects in 13 locations with prices of its products ranging from P900,000 to P3 million each. 

Montenegro said the company is looking at new sites including Makati, Ortigas, and Mandaluyong, for its future projects.  He said the firm’s strategy is to enter into partnerships with landowners.

Chris Maglanoc, Avida vice president for project development, said the company expects to register P3 billion in sales this year or an increase of 67 percent from 2006 sales of P1.8 billion.

Maglanoc said OFWs accounted for 40 percent of the company’s sales in the first six months of the year compared with only 26 percent in 2006.

He expressed confidence that units at Avida Towers Makati West to be quickly taken up and that it could even break the record set by Avida Towers San Lazaro in Sta. Cruz, Manila, which was sold out four months after its launch in January 2006.

Avida accounts for eight percent of total sales of ALI, Maglanoc said.

Other residential condominium projects of Avida include the five-tower Aeropolis New Manila, and One Aeropolis Sucat in Parañaque.

Avida also has residential subdivision projects in Pampanga, Cavite, Batangas, Naga, Lucena, and Cabanatuan.