Alphaland projects to continue – Recto

MANILA, Philippines — Alphaland, the upscale property developer, will continue the projects left behind by its founder, the late tycoon Roberto Ongpin, with emphasis on improving services in the different luxury developments but especially in Balesin Island in Quezon, its new chairman and CEO Eric Recto told The STAR yesterday.

“My priority right now is to maintain and improve the service levels in all the projects that are already completed, most especially in Balesin Island Club,” Recto said.

As for the Balesin International Gateway (BIG), the newest project in the nearby Patnanungan Island, Alphaland would have to reevaluate how best to move forward with the project considering that it requires huge capital, he said.

“Balesin International Gateway or BIG as we call it, in Patnanungan Island, is a project in its nascent stage of development. It is a big project – pun intended – and therefore will require a big commitment of capital. How to deal with that is something that we will need to reevaluate but my initial guidance to everyone is to keep the status quo,” Recto said.

Last year, Ongpin announced that Alphaland started “moving earth” in Patnanungan Island for the BIG project.

BIG totals 750 hectares of land that the company accumulated over the past five years.

The original plan is that BIG will have an international airport, a championship golf course, five to 10 hotels averaging 200 rooms each and about 3,000 home sites.

“Unlike Balesin, BIG will not be a membership club and will be open to the public, primarily internationally, with its international airport allowing visitors to fly directly from their worldwide residences, bypassing crowded Manila,” Ongpin said when he announced the project in August last year.

Ongpin said then that BIG would take 10 years to develop.

The first component of the project is the Alphaland Beach Club, which has a large pool and about 30 nipa hut cabañas along the beach.

As of December last year, the Beach Club was 99.9 percent, with a clubhouse, grilling station, and 25 nipa huts, plus a huge pool.

“The idea is to initially use Alpha Beach Club as a daytime destination, returning to Balesin in the evenings. We will be starting to build a 50-room hotel at BIG by early next year and, when finished in two years, you will be able to spend the night at BIG,” Ongpin had said.

The company was likewise constructing a golf course in BIG with about nine of the 18 holes already laid out.

A 2,500-meter runway of the BIG international airport was likewise being constructed and targeted to be operational in two years’ time or in 2024.

Alphaland’s other project, the Baguio Mountain Lodges, meanwhile, already has pre-sold 142 lodges, of which 74 have already been built.

Recto was named chairman and CEO of Alphaland following the death of Ongpin, his uncle. Ongpin died in his sleep in the early hours of Feb. 5 in Balesin.