Philrealty eyes exit from court-assisted rehab

Property developer Philippine Realty and Holdings Corp. expects to exit from a court-assisted rehabilitation by next year and pursue more property projects, including a prime mixed-use development in Bonifacio Global City.

Philrealty expects to sign within this year a memorandum of understanding with its principal stockholder, Greenhills Properties Inc., for the development of the latter’s 6,400-square-meter lot fronting BGC’s 5th Avenue, Philrealty president Amador Bacani told reporters at the sidelines of the company’s stockholders’ meeting on Tuesday.

The company has two other property projects in BGC—Icon Plaza and Icon Tower. In these projects, Philrealty contributed the land while its partner developed the property. For this upcoming BGC project, Philrealty will be the developer.

“We are now capable to do that. The master plan should be finished within three to six months, then we will decide how to pursue it,” Bacani said.

Bacani said the BGC project was a priority because the area “has lots of major construction coming.” The block fronting 5th Avenue in BGC is classified for mixed-use development, which means Philrealty can put up residential, office and service apartment components, he said.

Asked whether Philrealty would need to raise fresh funds for the BGC project, Bacani said this might not be necessary as the company could generate cash from the launch of the second tower of its New Manila residential project, which is called Andrea North.

After completing the first building in Andrea North called Skyline Tower, Philrealty will bring to the property market early next year the second tower called Sky Breeze, which will offer 278 units, to be ready for turnover to buyers by the middle of 2015. The company expects to generate more than P2 billion in sales from the second building.

The 31-story Sky Breeze units will sell for P90,000 to P100,000 per square meter.

“This is more upscale than the other projects in the area,” Bacani said.

The Andrea North project, which will be composed of five residential towers, sits on a two-hectare property.

Philrealty also expects to unlock values out of a townhouse subdivision project in San Fernando, La Union. The company plans to sell 236 townhouse units worth P600 million to P700 million.

In the meantime, Bacani said a new judge from the Quezon City Regional Trial Court was studying the company’s petition to exit corporate rehabilitation.

“We’ll just have to work on one or two liabilities,” Bacani said, referring to about P100 million in liability arising from an earlier court decision. “This should be resolved by next year,” he said.