Villar to venture into ind’l parks

MANILA, Philippines - The group led by real estate tycoon Manuel B. Villar Jr. is looking to make its industrial park development debut by next year as it plans to take advantage of the revival of the country’s manufacturing sector.

Villar said the group’s maiden industrial property venture would be under his close watch and would be undertaken by real-estate arm Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc.   

“I am still assessing the market. There is no commitment yet but we’re looking at sometime late next year if we’re going into it,” Villar said.

The Vista Land chairman said the company is currently looking at two possible areas in the South for the industrial park development. “We do have plenty of land in the South so we’re looking into possible areas there. If we are to choose, most likely in Cavite because we don’t have much land in Batangas,” Villar said.

The country’s 14th richest man said Vista Land can earmark some 200 to 300 hectares of its land bank in the South for the industrial park if the project pushes through.

Villar said the group is open to a partnership for the project, noting that he is in initial talks with “some people” who are also interested in industrial property developments.

“I think the demand is going to continue (for industrial property). I see that it’s going to be the wave of the future because industrial estates follow economic growth,” he said.

Although the yield in industrial estate is low, Villar said developers could earn more from the economic activity it can generate in nearby areas.

As such, he said it is important for the company to allocate an additional of about 100 hectares of land near the industrial park to put up other potential income generating developments.

Vista Land is the country’s largest homebuilder with residential housing developments in 34 provinces and 74 cities and municipalities around the country. The planned industrial park, if pursued, will be the first for the Villar group which is already into vertical and horizontal residential developments as well as mall and convenience store businesses.