Highlands Prime to spend P2.5-B for three projects

Highlands Prime Inc., the SM Group’s publicly-listed high-end property development arm, will be spending P2.5 billion for the next two years to fund three projects. The allotment will be used for a project in Tagaytay Highlands, one in Midlands, and its “primary home" project in Canlubang, Laguna, its first venture outside the Tagytay area. Of the amount, about 40-percent will be for the yet to be conceptualized Canlubang project and rest for its Tagaytay developments, Antonio A. Henson, HPI president, told reporters. The capital outlay will be funded through internally-generated funds and bank borrowings. For this year, HPI is also expecting a P1.1-billion in total sales, about a 30-percent improvement from last year's on the back of additional projects that it will be launching. The company is targeting to launch at least one project in the 342-hectare project in Laguna, Henson added. The Canlubang property “opens a new corridor of opportunity from which (HPI) can diversify," Henson told stockholders. The company is still in the process of selecting which firm will draw up the Canlubang property’s masterplan. If successful, HPI will also look for other projects to cater to the “first home market," Henson said. Earlier, the company disclosed that the huge lot in Canlubang would be turned into various residential projects. The property is adjacent to the Canlubang Golf Club that extends to its Hillside Villa inside the exclusive mountain resort in Tagaytay Highlands. The property was purchased at “not more than P500 per square meter," which meant that the acquisition could have cost as much as P1.71 billion and that the payment would be done in “terms," sources told GMANews.TV. HPI, which has about 600 hectares in landbank in Tagaytay, is also continuing with its development of residential communities inside the Tagaytay Highlands and the Midlands complex. Expected to be launched shortly are the second phase of The Woodridge Place with three- and four-bedroom condominium units; second phase of The Horizon at Tagaytay Midlands, which covers the construction and sale of two- to three-bedroom townhouses; the IL Piazza at Milago, an Italian style complex that overlooks the famed Taal Volcano; and the Cliff at Hillside, a mid-rise condominium project. - GMANews.TV