Lush San Juan garden now an event venue

Imagine setting yourself adrift around one of the famous gardens of Florence in Italy. Towering old trees provide shade, with the relaxing sound of water gushing from the courtyard fountain.

Such imagery and feeling are the inspiration of Mango Tree Residences, the 3,000-square-meter property of Empire East.

Located on the quiet side of M. Paterno Street in San Juan City, the European-inspired garden gives clients and guests a relaxing atmosphere. It is different from the usual showroom or model unit. Empire East decided on this innovative marketing.

The garden is a perfect venue for wedding receptions and other special occasions. It is also an ideal setting for prenuptial video shoots, and for avid photography buffs.

“The idea of creating a park is a marketing approach to client prospecting,” says lawyer Charlie Yu, president of Empire East Land Holdings Inc.

“In any development, the lot is usually converted into a sales and model unit before the building construction. In our case, we decided to build a mini theme park to give value to the land as well as attract visitors and photography enthusiasts.

Paterno Street is very idyllic, with luxuriant mango trees and a community composed mostly of old-rich Chinese. The garden landscape will serve as inspiration for a luxurious, high-rise condominium development. Mango Tree Residences’ modern Asian architecture will highlight earth tones, wide-open spaces and wood elements. The old mango trees will play a significant part in preserving nature, integrated in the landscaped greenery.

The development will feature an on-stilts concept—no massive structures on the ground level. This layout yields more open spaces that enhance the exclusivity and privacy of the neighborhood. Its grand drop-off area and double-height lobbies will welcome residents to a five-star hotel ambiance.

The residential condominium will have two towers (34-story East Residences and 38-story West Residences), strategically located on the boundaries of San Juan, Quezon City, and Mandaluyong City.

Mango Tree Residences has good proximity to Xavier School, Immaculate Conception Academy and La Salle Greenhills. Efficient road networks in the vicinity easily connect to shopping malls, offices and healthcare institutions in Greenhills, Ortigas, Makati, Manila and Quezon City. Recreational amenities include a lap pool, kiddie pool, function room, fitness gym and wellness zone at the ground level, and five levels of parking. There will also be a garden deck on the seventh level. Future homeowners may choose from one-bedroom or two-bedroom suites ranging from 30 to 92 sq m; select units have exclusive patios. There are larger cuts of residential units on the penthouse level of each tower.

 

Megaworld expands township portfolio across the country

Property giant Megaworld is aggressively expanding its township portfolio this year. The company, along with its subsidiaries Suntrust Properties, Inc., Empire East Land Holdings, Inc., and Global-Estate Resorts, Inc., is set to launch five new townships: two in Luzon, two in the Visayas and one in Mindanao, with a total land area of around 400 hectares. This will bring Megaworld’s total township land area to 3,100 hectares by year-end.

“With our adequate land bank and landholdings, the Megaworld Group is growing its townships to even more cities all over the Philippines. This means, more exciting destinations, more homes to be built, more office buildings to be offered and more jobs for Filipinos. Our vision is to build more world-class townships in every major city in the Philippines year after year,” says Dr. Andrew L. Tan, chairman and CEO, Megaworld.

These new developments will bring the company’s township portfolio from 15 to 20 by the end of this year. Last year, the company also introduced five townships in its portfolio covering almost 1,000 hectares of land. These include Woodside City in Pasig City (12.3 hectares); Southwoods City in the boundaries of Cavite and Laguna (561 hectares); Davao Park District in Lanang, Davao City (11 hectares); Alabang West in Las Pinas City (62 hectares); and Suntrust Ecotown in Tanza, Cavite (350 hectares).

Other townships include Eastwood City in Quezon City, (18.5 hectares), which holds the distinction of being the country’s first cyberpark; Newport City in Pasay City (25 hectares), which is the home of Resorts World Manila; McKinley Hill (50 hectares), McKinley West (34.5 hectares), Uptown Bonifacio (15.4 hectares), and Forbes Town Center (5 hectares), all in Fort Bonifacio; The Mactan Newtown in Cebu (28.8 hectares); Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao, Iloilo City (72 hectares); Boracay Newcoast in Boracay Island (150 hectares) and Twin Lakes in Tagaytay (1,300 hectares) of Global-Estate Resorts, Inc. (GERI), a subsidiary of Megaworld.

“We still have more lands to develop in our portfolio. Our various groups are working hard to come up with unique concepts and ideas on how we will create more sustainable communities across the country,” adds Tan.

The Megaworld Group has around 4,000 hectares of land in its portfolio. Around 80 percent have been dedicated for LIVE-WORK-PLAY townships or mixed-use communities, the concept of property development that Megaworld pioneered in the Philippines way back in the 1990s. The townships combine the residential, office, commercial and retail components to form mixed-use communities.