Alphaland firms up marina club project

Alphaland Corp., a listed property developer led by former trade minister Roberto Ongpin, is firming up plans for its marina club rising in Manila Bay and is now in talks to acquire as many as 20 yachts to lease to its members.

The move, company president Mario Oreta said, would allow Alphaland Marina Club to tap a broader market while differentiating its project. He said Alphaland Marina would be the first yacht club in Asia to offer boats for lease.

Oreta said the company was in talks with shipbuilders in the region, including yacht brokers in Singapore and Hong Kong.

“[The boats] will probably be between 40 feet and 60 feet,” Oreta said. He did not elaborate on what the developer might charge its members.

Alphaland is testing the market for upscale leisure spending as Oreta believes the Philippines is ready for this.

“It is aspirational. People want the life. They want to experience bringing their whole family to Boracay [island] in their own yacht,” he said.

Sales at the club have been well received. Oreta said they have sold about 300 Alphaland Marina shares, with the going rate now at P1.5 million from the P1-million debut price.

Alphaland Marina, which will open late next year, will encompass 10 hectares surrounded by a breakwater.

The marina itself will have 300 berths for boats, information on Alphaland’s website showed.

Oreta spoke to reporters at the inauguration of the builder’s Alphaland Tower along Ayala Avenue in Makati City.

Oreta said the company is in talks to lease out or sell entire floors of the 34-story tower.

“There are some people who like to buy five or six floors. We are looking at it and studying this. We cannot just get whoever comes our way as we just finished the building,” Oreta said.

He noted that ideal clients would be large multinationals that could afford the selling rate, which ranges from P200,000 to P250,000 a square meter.

Alphaland earlier wanted to sell the tower to a single buyer but later abandoned this plan given the small pool of individuals or groups willing to buy a whole building, which Oreta said costs P8 billion.