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ETON Properties Philippines Inc. said it plans to go
full blast with the construction of its first six projects despite
the surging prices of basic construction materials.
The Lucio Tan-owned property firm
said it would pursue construction this quarter of four of its
high-rise residential towers. These are the Eton Residences
Greenbelt, the Eton Baypark Manila, One Archers Place and Eton
Emerald Lofts.
Danilo Ignacio, Eton president
and chief operating officer, said that Eton Cyberpod Centris, the
company’s first business process outsourcing (BPO) office
building, recently topped off and is scheduled for completion by
yearend. Its three-building BPO complex, Eton Cyberpod Corinthian,
located at the corner of EDSA and Ortigas avenues, also began
concrete pouring activity this month.
Ignacio said that Eton remains
bullish despite the challenging economy and soaring prices of
construction materials due to the strong sales of its residential
condominium projects and strong interest from BPO companies awaiting
completion of the office buildings.
He said the company has
preordered P600-million worth of steel bars in advance, sufficient
to cover the construction of its initial projects.
The company last month bagged tax
perks and other incentives from the Board of Investments (BOI) for
its two low-cost housing projects in Metro Manila. The company is
spending P1.090 billion for the development of One Archers Place in
Taft Avenue, Manila and Eton Emerald Lofts in Ortigas Center.
The One Archers project will cost
P550.735 million, and involves the development of a
3,134-square-meter land and the construction of two 31-story
residential buildings with 1,330 housing units. Based on its BOI
application document, 1,322 of these are designed as low-cost
housing units.
Eton Emerald Lofts is expected to
cost P540 million. But only one of the two 40-story residential
towers is seeking perks from the BOI. About 442 of the 540 units in
Tower 1 will be allotted for mass housing. The one-bedroom loft
units will each have a floor area ranging from 32.78 to 42.28 square
meters.
Construction is set to begin in
September and is expected to generate 360 jobs.
The firm’s application for
registration as a new developer of mass housing projects is covered
by the sub-category of low-cost mass housing under Preferred
Activities of the 2008 Investments Priorities Plan.
Eton is hopeful the incentives
will lead to even more positive income projections and allow it to
further bring down the prices of its socialized housing units.
Recently, the BOI upheld its support for the construction of mass
housing projects to address the country’s housing backlog.
--Katrina Mennen A. Valdez
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