LOCAL developers with large parcels of land in Cebu but are constrained by their lack of expertise in developing integrated communities can sell individual lots or portions of it to national developers, a property and management firm advised.
Colliers International Philippines said this arrangement, albeit uncommon, gives opportunities to both parties.
“We believe that both local and national developers in Cebu mutually benefit from this arrangement with the national developer lending its expertise in designing an intergrated live-work-play environment,” said Colliers in a report titled “When Giants Evade: National Players Redifining Cebu” published on Monday.
As a result, national developers can bring their expertise in building their own infrastructure, as well as attract retailers, tenants, and end-users, but also include investors for its mall, offices, and residential units.
“Over the long term, these benefits should trickle down to the local developers, enabling the homegrown firms to pursue their own township projects in the future,” it added.
As long as the national players’ plans align with that of the local developer’s design guidelines, the move should result in a more interesting development mix and landscape for the entire integrated community, the firm said.
Locally, a more often seen practice is that local developers purchase individual lots inside master-planned communities of national players.
Two prominent examples are the Cebu IT Park and the Cebu Business Park of the Ayala Group. Some of the local developers that took advantage of the masterplanned environment are Skyrise Realty with its Skyrise buildings; Apple One Properties with its Apple One Tower; and Innoland with its The Link and Calyx Residences.
“By building residential and office towers within the master-planned communities or business hubs developed by national players, local developers are able to maximize transportation network and other infrastructure built by national developers,” noted Colliers.
The firm also encouraged local developers to tie up with global property management companies.
Property management firms handle the daily operations of residential and office buildings including management, supervision, improvement and upkeep of facilities. In addition, they supervise the technical operations and maintenance of the projects’ various building equipment and manage the financial aspects of the building operations.
When a building is properly maintained, Colliers said this enhances the property’s value.