Anchor Land diversifying portfolio

Upscale property developer Anchor Land Holdings Inc. (ALHI) is breaking into Boracay and Coron’s tourism space and is debuting in the dormitory business to diversify its revenue stream.

With a capital spending budget for 2017 of P8 billion, up from P5 billion last year, ALHI is focusing on funding its Anchor Grandsuites project and the development of its corporate office.

By next year, ALHI plans to break ground for hotel and resort projects in two major tourist hubs in the country: Boracay and Coron.

Apart from the projects in Boracay and Coron which will break ground next year, the company is also pursuing its Aseana City project in the Pagcor Entertainment City complex in the Manila Bay Area.

“Funding for these projects will be internally generated,” ALHI vice chair and chief executive officer Steve Li said in an interview after Anchor Land’s stockholders meeting yesterday.

The beachfront Boracay hotel and resort development will rise on a 26,000-square-meter property while the Coron Hotel and Resort development will occupy 3,000 square meters.

Both developments are still in the design stage and construction is slated to start in 2018.

Aseana City Project—Anchor Land’s fourth residential development with a boutique hotel— will rise on an 8,000-sqm lot along Belle Avenue at the Aseana Business Park. This seeks to tap the market brought by gaming and leisure establishments.

“I think the tourism industry is really a sunshine industry and we have seen lots of foreign tourists that come over,” Li said.

“It’s a lot more affordable (here) and people compare (it with other) Asian countries. They (tourists) try to explore more. A lot of people right now try to balance their (lives). They spend most of their time and budget into traveling, (and) quite obviously Philippines is one of the destinations,” Li added.

This year, ALHI will launch three of its projects: a warehouse development called Logistics Center located in Binondo; the Peak Parksuites in Davao, and, its first bed spacing or dormitory-type project in Pasay City.

Cosmos Suites is a twin-tower building offering 3,000 beds, targeting people in transit as well as employees working in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. ALHI is looking for two to three potential locations for similar projects. —ODELINNE JAN LINA