Ayala Westgrove Heights: Finding southern comfort

When you’re building a city, it’s logical to start by building homes. When you have homes, you need to put in schools, offices, leisure parks, roads and highways. When you’re building a city, you look at all the things that went wrong in other cities and work on the assumption that, yes, it is possible to have a place that will make quality living possible.

That’s the grand plan of Ayala Land for the Calabarzon area, south of Metro Manila. "We took government’s call seriously when it called on the private sector to do its part in decongesting Metro Manila. We saw the south as the ideal place because it’s dynamic," says Raul Redoblado, Ayala Land Inc. media affairs manager.

Ayala South will be the new Makati, if you will (and truth to tell, it has the Makati tag price written all over it). Or going further down memory lane, it’s going to be the new Binondo, the place where commerce thrived and everybody wanted a piece of it before the river started to stink.

This time, though, there is urban planning. They’re talking about masterplans and building infrastructure that will accommodate the influx. You think, maybe this will not be like Manila and Quezon or even Makati where there seems to be no logic in the way these cities were planned. Where else will you find bungalows overshadowed by towering office buildings or malls built right next to schools? Hell, commercial spaces in malls are zoned better than our cities.

"What we’re really trying to build here in Ayala South in the next decade or so is a vision for the south of Metro Manila – we want to replicate Makati but with urban planning and the works. There is space allocated for high-rises in Canlubang. Westgrove Heights and Ayala Greenfield Estates form part of that vision," says Raul.

Greenfield Estates is now being called the "Forbes Park of the south" while Westgrove Heights is the "Dasmariñas Village of the south." Infrastructure forms part of the blueprint, says Raul, "but of course we cannot do it by ourselves." Recently, Ayala Land shelved a project that would have utilized the Manila Calabarzon Express (MCX) train system and would have made possible better transportation between Metro Manila and the towns in the south. The reason the project was dropped? There was no government support.

The upscale Westgrove Heights is the first community in Ayala South. It was modeled after Ayala Alabang right down to the architectural theme of Mediterranean. The rolling terrain – formerly mango orchards – made it ideal for the theme, according to Ayala Land people who describe the style as befitting a community by the sea. Although Westgrove is nowhere near a sea, there are manmade lakes within the property and foot bridges.

There are underground conduits for power, cable TV and telephone lines so there aren’t those eyesore poles that inevitably get snagged by delivery trucks. Instead, you get tree-lined sidewalks, bicycle and jogging paths.

Speaking of trees, there were over 10,000 mango trees in the property, which Ayala Land "barely touched." They’re referring of course to the trees in the common areas – outside the lots for sale. The trees where the structures – like the clubhouses – were built were transferred to other areas. Homeowners cannot just cut the trees indiscriminately either. One of the restrictions Ayala imposed is that for every tree a homeowner cuts, he needs to plant five trees.

Westgrove is divided into four phases. There are now 17 families living there and more building their future homes (on a budget of not less than P3 million according to the deed of restrictions). The Westgrove lots – 70 percent of them already sold – have sizes from 450 square meters to 1,125 square meters. Prices of the lots range from P8,700 to P9,900 (base price), depending on the location. You could be facing the Greenbelt area, the picnic grounds or the neighborhood parks. Since Westgrove is situated on the highest terrain in the area, you will be "looking down" on other developments literally – oh, hell, you might as well do so figuratively, too.

And because it’s a community they’re building – "not just homes," they keep reminding us – Ayala Land donated a lot and built a school for St. Scholastica’s College right outside the Westgrove gates. The school now has Grades 1, 2, 3 and 4; first and second year high school; and 1st and second year college.

The three-storey school, which functions as an extension of St. Scholastica’s Manila, has about 136 grade schoolers, 52 high school students and seven college students. The grounds at the back of the school have breathtaking views of mountain ranges. More importantly, students are breathing in fresh air and are spared of vehicle fumes and recycled air. While the school is awaiting more students, it is building more facilities and students are allowed to use facilities of Westgrove Heights for their PE classes.

St. Scho principal Sister Edna Quiambao, OSB, says that when Ayala Land offered to build a school for them, they said no the first time. The school was not looking to expand just yet. When it was offered the second time, they made a feasibility study and agreed to run the school. For its part, Ayala had offered it to other "socially oriented" schools before they gave it to St. Scholastica’s.

Also in the plans are a retail center and church near the main entrance of the village, much like San Antonio Plaza on McKinley.

Gerry and Redy Cruz are a couple typical of Westgrove homeowners. On a drive to Tagaytay two years ago, they saw the Westgrove development. They were living at Ayala Heights in Quezon City when they decided to move to the south. With their main business located in Canlubang, it was convenient for them, plus they were looking for something more than just a subdivision. They wanted a community that was secure, "where you don’t have to lock your doors or your car," and with complete amenities. They found all this at Westgrove.

Speaking of amenities, one of the attractions of the 112-hectare Westgrove is that it has two clubhouses. As Ayala Land Inc. media specialist Kap Aguila puts it, "Wherever you are in Westgrove, there’s always a clubhouse near you. Remember, this is such a large development. But rather than building two similar clubhouses, they decided to build the other one with kids and young families in mind."

Located in an area where they foresee "early nesters" living, Kidsgrove has lots of play areas for kids. The clubhouse has recreational amenities, a multi-purpose rink, boardwalks, water features, a junior basketball court, an interactive wet play area, a swimming pool, jogging paths, and a playground.

It’s not just the amenities that make living at Westgrove ideal. There’s Ayala Property Management, which spares homeowners of the headaches of maintaining their own community. They take care of the garbage collection, the water system, the parks and common areas, and the amenities.

Building a community does take more than just spending millions on the lot and structure. It also takes a common vision: Life is short. Why waste it worrying about how to live it?