Megaworld, Empire East to invest P20B in Cainta township

Tycoon Andrew Tan-led Megaworld Corp. has teamed up with its subsidiary Empire East Land Holdings Inc. to invest P20 billion in the development of a 24-hectare township in Cainta, Rizal, catering to the booming demand for residential space close to Metro Manila’s business hubs.

The group’s newest township called Highland City will have 38 residential towers on the elevated portion, meant to “evoke a character of a city sitting on highlands,” Megaworld executive vice president and chief strategy officer Kevin Tan said in a briefing on Monday.

This is the group’s 24th township development and will rise on a former steel mill.

In the next two years, Tan said the group would likely have a total of 30 townships.

This is Megaworld’s first time to team up with mid-cost residential developer Empire East, which owns a big portion of the land.

Megaworld master-planned the estate while Empire East will be in charge of residential development.

Tan said 40 percent of the township along Felix Avenue would be devoted to open space.

The highlight of the estate will be Highland Park, an 8,000-square meter green and open park, which will house some retail areas and a 500-seating capacity church.

Another 40 percent of the township will be devoted to vertical residential development while the remaining 20 percent will be for retail, office and other formats.

The group is confident about demand for residential space in this area.

“With the lack of land in that area, there’s no other way but to go vertical,” Tan said.

Aside from local demand, households supported by overseas remittances are seen to take the up bulk of the projected inventory.

Tan said the group would start land development on the estate by the second quarter of this year.