Robinsons Homes, Security Bank to develop prime Davao City property

A prime 10.5-hectare property of the Security Bank Corporation along J.P. Laurel Ave. in Lanang, Davao City, will soon develop into an upscale residential subdivision with commercial strips, featuring sassy chic and garden bloom themes.

Robinsons Homes Inc. (RHI) has signed a joint venture agreement on the property with SBC. RHI president Lance Gokongwei said the project is the seventh of RHI joint ventures with landowners and big corporations in the country.

Located between the city’s main urban cluster and the new Davao International Airport, the property will have an average lot cut of 200-sq-m. for residential lots and 300 sq. m. for commercial lots, with a clubhouse, a swimming pool, central open space adopting an American "flower fields" character, landscaped parks and gardens, and a multipurpose playcourt.

Robinsons Homes commissioned the services of world-renowned architectural group Palafox Associates to draw up the project’s master plan. The joint RHI-SBC effort is expected to produce the highest standards in architectural designs by balancing functionality of space with creative elements. Architect Felino Palafox has designed master plans for number of residential and commercial hubs in this country and abroad.

SBC president Alberto S. Villarosa and Gokongwei led their company officials in signing the joint venture contract. Other signatories were SBC chairman Frederick Y. Dy, executive chairman Rafael F. Simpao Jr., First VP Evelyn C. Sison and VP Richard Yu, while other RHI signatories were Executive VP Frederick D. Go. SVP-General Manager Marilu M. Alferez and VP Manuel D. Deus.

The Lanang property is the second major development project in Davao City. The first project, Gokongwei said, is the 38-hectare Robinsons Highlands, located along the Buhangin Diversion Road, already considered a landmark in Davao City. All the commercial and residential lots worth P263 million were sold out by mid-2004.

Gokongwei said the six earlier RHI joint venture projects covered by parcels in Cavite, Pampanga, Davao and Cagayan de Oro City.

SBC’s Villarosa said the bank "could not have found a better and a more committed partner to develop and sell the property." The joint project is "a first" for SBC, "only the beginning of equally productive endeavors together," he said. RHI is a subsidiary of the Gokongwei Group of Companies.

With a reputation for completing quality on time and on specifications, Robinsons Homes was a "Developer of the Year" awardee of the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders Associations (CREBA).