Avida Land allots P7 billion for projects

BY LOVELY NICA P. LEE/BUSINESSWORLD Avida Land, Inc., a subsidiary of property developer Ayala Land, Inc., has allotted P7 billion for its projects over the next four years. In a talk with reporters, Avida Land President Leo M. Montenegro said the firm will build 16 towers with 6,000 units (or 375 units each tower) within Metro Manila that is accessible to public transportation and retail centers. "Actually, we’re aiming to build one tower a year and it would cost us P500 million per tower. We intend to finance our development costs through internal funds," he said. Formerly known as Laguna Properties Holdings, Inc., Avida Land has projects located in Sucat, Parañaque; New Manila, Quezon City; Sta. Cruz, Manila and Makati City. In a media launch Tuesday, Avida Land introduced the latest addition to its growing number of projects— Avida Towers Makati West. Avida Makati is the fourth project of Avida Land and is a joint venture with Equimark-NF Development Corp., a subsidiary of Equitable-PCI Bank. It will be officially launched on Thursday, but as of Tuesday, 140 units have already been reserved, company officials said. The firm’s latest residential project would stand on a 6,400-square meter lot along Malugay, Yakal and Lumbayao streets in San Antonio Village, Makati. Mr. Montenegro said it would have two towers with 861 units priced between P1.3 million and P3.6 million. One of the towers, which is three floors higher, will have 462 units. It is set for completion by 2010, Mr. Montenegro said. Like all of the company’s projects, Avida Makati will cater to the middle-class segment. "Avida condominium projects address the needs of the affordable housing segment composed of hardworking middle-class managers, professionals and employees," said Christopher B. Maglanoc, Avida vice-president for project development and strategic management group. He added that its market includes overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who in 2006 made up 26% of Avida sales in all of its residential product lines. "But now, as of the first half of the year, OFWs accounted for 40% of Avida sales," Mr. Maglanoc said. Avida Land, which sees revenues reaching P3 billion this year from P1.8 billion last year, has contributed about 8% to Ayala Land’s total sales in the past seven months.