Monday, July 21, 2008 Filinvest builds condo, hotel
TO help address the shortage of hotel rooms in Cebu, Filinvest Land Inc. is building a 25-story condominium hotel in Cebu City.
The Grand Cenia Hotel and Residences is the first high-rise project of Filinvest in Cebu, said business development officer Junevette Agravante.
She said the project has attracted about 300 buyers for its 432 condotel units since the real estate company started selling them in August last year.
She said Grand Cenia, which held an open house yesterday, will be “another landmark” in Cebu City.
The building will have 112 residential condominium units, which would be ideal for businessmen who are assigned in Cebu for long periods or by individuals who want to stay in the province for a few years.
The structure sits on 4,211 square meters of prime property along Archbishop Reyes Ave., Cebu City, across Ayala Center Cebu. The building’s amenities include a business center, coffee shop, function rooms and swimming pools. It also has two floors of office space and a commercial center on the ground floor.
The construction of Grand Cenia started late last April and is expected to be completed by end of 2010.
Agravante said some of the condotel buyers, especially those who consider the purchase as investment, opted for more than one unit as they can rent them out and earn when they are away from Cebu.
Under a “hassle-free ownership” arrangement, an international hotel operator will manage these condotel units in the absence of their owners. Operational expenses will be deducted from the income that the owner will get quarterly.
A condotel owner’s earnings in a year will depend on the building’s occupancy rate, Agravante said.
“This is the first (property) with such concept within the Cebu Business Park,” she said.
Lawyer Jeffrey Badilles, Filinvest area sales head for the Visayas, said building occupants will have a view of the mountains and the business park.
A condotel at Grand Cenia covers 24.54 square meters and is priced at P3 million while a residential condominium (50.52 square meter for one bedroom, 75.78 square meters for two bedrooms, and 107.37 square meters for three bedrooms) ranges from P7 million to P13 million.
In the past 50 years, Filinvest has developed over 1,500 hectares of land and created more than 400,000 square meters of prime office, residential and rental spaces.
Its other projects in Cebu are all residential units—the Aldea del Sol in
Lapu-Lapu City and the Corona del Mar in Talisay City, among others. (NRC)
