Vista Land teams up with MEC of Japan for Taft condo project

Villar family-led Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. (VLL) has teamed up with Japanese real estate developer Mitsubishi Estate Co. Ltd. to build a high-rise residential condominium that will cater to the academic community in Taft, Manila.

The partnership is formed through a 60-40 percent joint venture between VLL’s high-rise development arm Vista Residences Inc. and MEC subsidiary Mitsubishi Estate Residence Co. Ltd. (MER). The joint venture is seen as an opportunity for both companies to combine their architectural, engineering and technological expertise to address demand in the Taft area.

This deal will bring to the property market a thousand residential units in a 32-story building. It will have seven floors of parking space and one ground floor featuring various commercial establishments.

The project is set to be launched in the first half of 2020, with turnover targeted in the second half of 2024.

This will be the MEC Group’s first residential development project in the Philippines while it will be Vista Residences’ fourth project in the Taft area. The project is part of Vista Land’s “University Series,” a line of condominium developments in high-density, student-oriented locations.

“This joint venture is a testament to the increasing trust and confidence of customers and investors alike in Vista. It highlights our growing profile not just with buyers but also with existing and potential partners, both here and abroad,” VLL president and chief executive officer Manuel Paolo Villar said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The project caters primarily to the expanding academic community in the four-kilometer Taft University Belt, home to 100,000 collegiate and post-graduate students, faculty members and administrative personnel and a total of 13 universities and colleges. The project is also close to various schools, hospitals, commercial centers, and public transportation, including the Vito Cruz LRT station.

VLL chair Manuel Villar Jr. said: “This joint venture brings together two of the largest real estate firms from different parts of Asia. Our strong track record of over 40 years in residential and commercial development nationwide, together with the MEC Group’s comprehensive spectrum of businesses in diverse fields related to real estate, will create a high-rise condominium which reinforces our vision of offering homes that foster good relationships and building communities that answer the needs of Filipino families.”

MER director and senior managing executive officer Yutaro Yotsuzuka added: “We are confident that this collaboration shall bring about a skillfully engineered and beautifully designed tower at the heart of the university cluster in Taft, and we hope to explore more opportunities with Vista Land to develop the rich potential of the real estate industry in Asia. We believe this joint venture is only the beginning, paving the way for a long-term and fruitful partnership.”

VLL is a leading home-builder and community developer in the Philippines while the MEC Group has a diversified portfolio that has expanded to international markets including the US, UK, Australia, and other countries in Asia.