Megaworld fasttracks work in P10-B Southwoods City

MANILA, Philippines - Megaworld Corp., the flagship pro-perty firm of tycoon Andrew L. Tan, has been generating strong sales in the residential component of a P10-billion township development south of Metro Manila, prompting the company to fasttrack the launch of more phases.

Southwoods City’s Pahara, a residential village inside the 561-hectare township with a golf course, has been almost sold out barely three months after it was launched, Megaworld said.

“The great location of Southwoods City is one of the primary reasons that our buyers would tell us why they prefer to purchase residential lots at Pahara. We have sold out the first phase in just a month and we are now on our third phase,” said Rachelle Peñaflorida, vice-president for sales and marketing of Megaworld Global-Estate Inc.

Strong demand and fast takeup of lots at Pahara pushed the property firm to launch the village’s second and third phases, six months ahead of their original launch date.

The entire residential village is almost 75 percent sold, Megaworld said, adding it expects P2 billion in sales for the entire residential village.

Southwoods City, straddling between Carmona in Cavite and Binan,Laguna, is the largest fully-integrated township development of Global-Estate Resorts Inc. (GERI), a unit of Megaworld.

“Growing population in the south will increase the demand for real estate, resulting in price appreciation. High applications for housing licenses demonstrate level of demand for the area,” said third party analyst Colliers International Research.

Megaworld will take charge of the design, conceptualization and masterplanning of Southwoods City. It will also manage the office towers and commercial components of the township.

GERI is set to invest P10 billion to develop Southwoods City into a bustling district for business and leisure that maintains its suburban feel in the next 10 years.

Of the 561-hectare property, 376 hectares were allotted for the residential segment, including the residential village Pahara. The 26-hectare Pahara consists of 602 available lots ranging from 239 to 523 square meters (sqm), with views of the golf course and Laguna de Bay.

The 125-hectare portion of the township will be occupied by the Jack Nicklaus-designed Southwoods City Gold and Country Club, while the remaining 60 hectares are set aside for the Southwoods Business Park.

Two office buildings offering 20,000 sqm of space for business process outsourcing firms are already in the advanced planning stage.

Megaworld is one of the country’s top residential condominium developers and the pioneer of townships such as Eastwood City in Quezon City; Newport City in Pasay City; and McKinley Hill, Uptown Bonifacio and Forbes Town Center in Bonifacio Global City. It is also the top office landlord and developer in the Philippines with around 712,000 sqm of office space inventory.

GERI and Megaworld are part of Tan’s Alliance Global Group Inc., which is also into liquor (Emperador Inc.) fastfood (McDonald’s franchise operator Golden Arches Development Corp.) and hotels and casino (Travellers International Hotel Group Inc.).