Robinsons Land starts China property project

Gokongwei-led property developer Robinsons Land Corp. expects to bring 1.8 billion Chinese renminbi (P13.2 billion) worth of new residential property inventory to Chengdu—its first venture in mainland China—by the first quarter of next year.

The 8.5-hectare project in southwest Chengdu, where RLC has started the first phase of development, is seen to significantly boost the company’s total residential business.

The P13.2 billion in sales value pertains to the first phase of development in Chengdu, which will offer 931 units, RLC president Frederick Go said in an interview with the Inquirer.

The second phase will offer 870 units, bringing to 1,801 the number of residential units that RLC will bring to this market.

The entire condominium project will create around 315,000 square meters of living space for the dynamic city of Chengdu. Go said RLC was targeting “upper middle-class” home-buyers for the project.

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province or the “Heavenly State,” is well-known as the natural habitat of the adorable giant pandas.

“When we first bought it, we thought it would take us two years to take it from purchase to launch. Actually we did it much faster. We already awarded the construction contract so construction is already in process,” Go said.

Go said the project in Chengdu had drawn strong momentum from the Gokongwei group’s earlier real estate projects in the city outside RLC. As such, he said the group was familiar with the environment and regulations. Most importantly, he said the group already had a team in place “that knows what it’s doing.”

“The difficulty of starting a business in a new country is that it takes maybe years to form the team. In this case, we were able to start immediately because the team is in place,” Go said, adding that the group was likewise familiar with contractors in Chengdu owing to its earlier projects.