HORIZONS 101, the tallest building in Visayas and Mindanao, topped off the 55-storey condominium, the first of the two towers, on General Maxilom Ave. in Cebu City yesterday.
More than 900 condominium units out of the total 1,573 are in Tower 1, which is set for turnover in September this year. Officials of Taft Property Ventures Development Corp., the project developer, told reporters yesterday that there are only eleven units left.
“Upon completion, Horizons 101 will be the tallest building in Visayas and Mindanao,” said Taft Property project development head Lydwena Eco. This will overtake the 40-storey Crown Regency Hotel and Towers, the tallest so far in Cebu, located near Fuente Osmeña.
Aside from it being largely residential, Taft Property president Christopher Narciso said that the development will also incorporate a commercial component at the ground floor of the tower. This will connect the first tower to the other, added head of architecture Jeremy Acosta.
Names, however, of the retail players were not disclosed by the officials, but Narciso said they are targeting to have them in place before the turnover in September.
Turnover of the 46-storey second tower, meanwhile is eyed in the third quarter of 2017. At present, Tower 2 has a 75 percent sales takeup.
Property value
Property value in Horizons 101 has also appreciated over the last three years, according to Eco. From P75,000 per square meter, it is now sold at P106,000 per square meter.
Aside from Horizons 101, Taft Property is also developing two other projects in Cebu, which include Taft East Gate on Pope John Paul Ave. corner Cardinal Rosales Ave. in Mabolo, and Soltana Nature Residences in Lapu Lapu City.
This is equivalent to 5,000 additional condominium units in Cebu, said Eco in a previous interview. This year, Eco said around 2,000 condominium units will be made available in the market under the company’s projects.
Within the quarter, the company will also be launching a mid-rise condominium in Guadalupe, under the brand Symfoni, which Eco said, will also be introduced to Luzon.
Taft Properties has already expanded in Luzon under the name Citation Residences in Binan, Laguna.
Narciso expressed optimism that the demand for housing remains to be high with 3.9 million housing backlog at present. In a year, he said developers can only produce not more than 300,000 housing units. Based on population growth, he said the demand for housing is projected to increase.
Different segments
To address this, Eco said the company will be offering to the market housing units to different market segments, from affordable, mid, to upscale.
This year, she said they are targeting to launch two or three projects scattered in Cebu and Manila.
“With the prevailing low interest rates, we are confident with the market in the next ten years,” Narciso said.
Horizons 101 is the first condominium project of the developer. It ventured in real estate in the 1990s, with its first project being Nichols Park, a subdivision located in Guadalupe, Cebu City. Taft Properties is the real estate arm of the Vicsal Development Corp., the owner of Metro retail stores.