Robinsons Land, Security Bank unit to build upscale Makati condo

Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) and Security Land, a Security Bank subsidiary, have entered into a partnership to build Signa Designer Residences, a two-tower, high-rise, and upscale residential condominium in Makati City. Located at the corner of Valero and Rufino streets in the Philippines’ premier financial district, the project is RLC’s first Makati City development and Security Land’s first such foray in Metro Manila. Previously, both have partnered to construct a housing project in Davao City, an executive said.

The project is Security Land’s first major development, Jose Ma. G. Montinola, Security Land general manager, told reporters at the project’s launch held at Crowne Plaza in Ortigas, Pasig City. Security Land owns the 2,570-square-meter property in Makati City while RLC will undertake the project’s construction. Signa Residences will have 700 units, Mybelle Aragon-GoBio, RLC vice president for business development, said. The smallest single-bedroom unit, with an area of 33 square meters, will be sold at P3.5 million. A two-bedroom unit with an area of 70 square meters will be sold between P6 million and P7 million. Buyers who want to have an area of 100 square meters will have to pay between P10 million and P12 million. Turnover of the units is expected in 2015. Various payment schemes and bank financing would be available for buyers. Pre-selling would start in the next few weeks, RLC officials said. Both parties may also be launching a commercial, office building project in a 3,000-square-meter property owned by Security Land along Ayala Avenue in Makati City, officials said. “This will all depend on market conditions," Aragon Go-Bio said. Besides pursuing a partnership with RLC, Security Land said it may also choose to develop its own project or partner with other developers too. Moreover, RLC has tapped prominent Filipino architects and designers for the residential development, the first time it handpicked an exclusively Filipino team for a project. The team will be led by architect Royal Pineda, furniture and space designer Antonio “Budji" Layug, and furniture designer Kenneth Cobonpue. In partnership with Layug, Pineda’s works go beyond Manila to span the region, including projects in Asia such as The Trees, Bangkok; Grand Napalai, Phuket; The Copper, Kuala Lumpur. Cobonpue won in 2005 Design for Asia Award of Hong Kong, Asia’s highest award, for his Lolah chair. Prior to this, he won 12 Mugna Awards and four Katha Awards for design excellence at the annual Philippine International Furniture Exhibition, plus a Japan Good Design Award and the first prize at the Singapore International Design Competition. He studied industrial design at the Pratt Institute in New York, and furniture marketing and production at the Export-Akademie Baden Württemberg in Germany, and apprenticed for a leather and wood workshop in Florence, Italy. Among Cobonpue’s clients include actor Brad Pitt and Warner Brothers. - GMANews.TV