Megaworld unit sets urban township in Iloilo

Leisure estate developer Global-Estate Resorts Inc. (Geri) has unveiled plans to transform the 173-hectare Sta. Barbara Heights in Iloilo from a purely residential enclave into a P10-billion integrated urban township.

This makes the Sta. Barbara estate, which is strategically located near the Iloilo International Airport, the 18th of such master-planned mixed-use projects under the Megaworld group of real estate tycoon Andrew Tan and the fifth township for Geri.

Geri planned to build up its recurring income portfolio to reach an annual contribution of P500 million starting 2018 from a very meager level at present, Jericho Go, senior vice president at Geri’s parent firm Megaworld Corp., told a press briefing after the leisure estate firm’s annual stockholders’ meeting Thursday.

The recurring income level projected by Geri over the next three years already approximates the net profit level of the Megaworld subsidiary as of 2014.

“This year (2015), we expect the company to grow by another 30 percent in terms of net income. The first order of business for the new management team is to streamline operations and tap opportunities for growth across all business segments,” Geri president Monica Salomon reported during the company’s stockholders’ meeting.

Geri’s 2014 net profit excluding extraordinary items amounted to P480 million, 41-percent higher than the previous year’s. Including one-time gains from the sale of a subsidiary during its consolidation into Megaworld, Geri’s net profit last year surged by 151 percent to P857 million.

But the Sta. Barbara project would not contribute yet to the P500-million annual recurring earnings projected by 2018 as the P10-billion development would be spread out over a long-term period, Go said. He added that the biggest contributor to recurring earnings by that time would be the Southwoods and Twin Lakes projects, which together would open up 92,000 square meters in gross leasable area. The 561-hectare Southwoods City in the boundaries of Cavite and Laguna will have two office towers catering to the business process outsourcing (BPO) and a shopping mall while the 1,200-hectare Twin Lakes in Alfonso, Batangas, will also have commercial components.

For Sta. Barbara Heights, about P2 billion to P3 billion has so far been spent by Geri mostly for horizontal or subdivision development.

“We are allocating P10 billion to develop Sta. Barbara Heights for 10 years, part of which has already been spent for land development and construction of the village, which started four years ago. We have seen the potential of Sta. Barbara Heights to become a full-blown township because of its strategic location near the Iloilo International Airport. In the next five to 10 years, this master-planned community will help spur economic activities in this town, and we will be able to provide transient passengers and tourists with facilities that are truly welcoming and world-class,” Salomon told Geri shareholders.