Capitol Commons
Seasoned developer Ortigas Land is moving into 2021 with cautious optimism amid a sustained demand, strong fundamentals and ongoing developments on the healthcare front.
In fact, Ortigas Land is already well prepared to launch new projects next year despite the lingering challenges dealt by the pandemic, owing to the company’s resiliency during this crisis, strong balance sheet and improved efficiencies.
“With recent developments on the health front, we are cautiously optimistic that 2021 will be a better year for the company and the rest of the industry. While the challenges will remain and it will take some time to fully restore consumer and business confidence, the economy has a lot of room to grow coming from a low base and with its fundamentals largely intact. Demand is still there for residential, office and retail developments and it is just a matter of time when the volumes will go back up again to pre-pandemic levels,” explained Jaime E. Ysmael, president and CEO of Ortigas Land, in an interview with Inquirer.
Circulo Verde
“We are prepared to launch projects and are lining up some for next year. We will however be calibrating the timing and number of these launches depending on market conditions. Preparedness, flexibility and agility are key in the current environment that we are in,” Ysmael further stressed.
Weathering the crisis
It isn’t surprising to hear that Ortigas Land—whose expertise, prowess and caliber had been honed for close to nine decades, having gone through turbulent times and a number of economic boom-and-bust cycles, at that—has so far weathered this highly unprecedented crisis.
Greenhills Center
A cursory look at its long history and track record of successful developments would easily dispel any doubts that Ortigas Land, today, remains a strong and prestigious brand that continues to adhere to its time-honored values of relationship, excellence, innovation and integrity, regardless of the current situation.
And its current projects, the four masterplanned estates, truly reflect such values: the 16-ha Greenhills Center, where a massive P60-billion redevelopment plan is underway; the 10-ha Capitol Commons, touted as a new destination for luxury living; the 10-ha Circulo Verde, envisioned to be a suburban sanctuary in the city; and the 16-ha Ortigas East, a sustainable estate along the bustling C-5 corridor. Ortigas Land is likewise developing its other existing assets within Ortigas Center, including The Galleon, an upcoming two-tower mixed-use development set to rise in the heart of this business district.
Ysmael also pointed out that the gains they have achieved in the past served to strengthen the overall resilience of the organization. These enabled Ortigas Land to keep the business intact despite the devastating impact of the pandemic, which plunged most economies into a recession.
“As with most businesses, this year has been a difficult and challenging one for us. Never have we seen businesses contract this much, and work patterns and business models disrupted so fast in a major way. These changes will have a major impact on the business of the future as companies learn, adjust and retool to be able to operate in this volatile world,” he noted.
Ortigas Center
“Despite these challenges, we were fortunate to have been able to weather the crisis and still manage to keep our business intact… Our efforts at strengthening the balance sheet, organizing for growth, improving operating efficiency, deepening the bench, emphasizing teamwork, addressing the needs of our stakeholders, and building the brand all paid off and served us well,” he further said.
Raising the bar
Hence, one can only expect more from Ortigas Land, which will continue to roll out innovative projects that are set to make the Philippine real estate scene even more exciting, especially as soon as the Philippine economy and the industry recover. Beyond helping enhance the city skyline, Ortigas Land’s gamechanging projects are also well poised to raise the bar anew in modern, sustainable lifestyle befitting today’s discerning urban dwellers.
“We will continue to pursue ongoing developments in all these segments—residential, office and retail. We are ready to launch new projects which are currently on a ‘push-button mode.’ We continue to plan for launches in the medium to long term to prepare ourselves for the eventual recovery and to sustain the company’s growth momentum. We continue to explore opportunities to expand geographically and diversify our product offerings,” Ysmael concluded.