CEBU's Modern Skyscrapers, new constructions, IT Parks, and UPDATES about CEBU

[ian_1983]

---

Brod Blair: Salamat sa PM. For a change , i think ill booked their kay barato kaayo ilang promotional offer. I head also that ABACA will be openning a restaurant inside th hotel as well. Asa ni dapit brod sa Mactan...?

[jdimpas]

Nice..mura man ug Palm Beach, Florida..hopefully 10-15 yrs from now. Nindoy palit ug Condo Unit diha pohon.

Brad..ask lang ko nimo. naka suroy baka sa Microtel Mactan..nindot ba? ako check ilang website pero
wala man photos sa hotel..sa beach..ameniteis..etc..etc. i was planning to booked their during my vacation this coming December. Already made some research sa google pero wla gyud photos.

Kung naa ka idea..apprciate if you can share some info..Salamat Brod.

request granted!
the 7-storey Microtel Suites Mactan

[usrolla]

nice sa microtel oi

[ian_1983]

Jdimpas: thanks bro..owe you one. NICE.!!

[blair]

Friday, September 26, 2008
Bid offered on 50 hectares SRP lots
By Linette C. Ramos


FOUR years after it started paying for the loan, the Cebu City Government received the first offer to develop a 50-hectare portion of the South Road Properties (SRP), including an outright purchase of 10 hectares worth P2 billion.

Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) submitted to Mayor Tomas Osmeña last night its unsolicited proposal to undertake a joint venture agreement with the City, where the latter will get at least 10 percent of FLI’s gross sales every year.

FLI will invest at least P80 billion in the project, which will include “mid-level to ultra high-end” residential buildings, a medium-rise complex, a cluster of high-rise hotels, retirement and medical facility and commercial areas, said Tristan Las Marias, the firm’s vice president for Visayas and Mindanao.

It also pledged to bring several corporate headquarters to the SRP.

“Given the potentials of the SRP and the business-friendly environment in Cebu City, Filinvest is proud to make an unsolicited proposal for an integrated and master planned development of a 50-hectare portion of the SRP under a joint venture agreement,” Las Marias announced last night.

With the P2 billion projected income from the outright purchase of 10 hectares, the City will have enough funds to pay for more than half of the balance of the loan principal.

The amount, though, will be paid in installment for a period of four to five years.

The City has a balance of some P3.3 billion for the principal of the loan made with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for the SRP, excluding interests and guarantee fees.

FLI vice chairman Andrew Gotianun Jr. flew to Cebu yesterday to present their proposal to Osmeña, Vice Mayor Michael Rama and the city councilors at the Casino Español de Cebu.

The project will cover some 11.26 hectares of seafront property, prime lots along the South Coastal Road and some interior lots.

Timetable

Although the submission of the proposal is only the first step, the Cebu Investments and Promotion Center (CIPC), the marketing arm of the SRP, hopes to award the project before the year ends.

“This will entail a very detailed activity of evaluating the proposal. If everything goes well, by the end of the year, we will be able to award the project,” CIPC managing director Joel Mari Yu told a press conference last night.

The procedures, however, could take longer than three months.

Yu explained that the proposal, which includes the project proposal and the contractual arrangement, will now be evaluated by the City Government.

Osmeña said the evaluation of the proposal will be “fairly fast” if it is found consistent with the City’s guidelines for joint venture agreements.

If it is acceptable to the City, the proposal will go to the City Council for further review and ratification.

Once approved, the proposal will be offered to the public for the unsolicited bid challenge using the Swiss challenge model.

Challenge

“This means that other developers can challenge FLI’s offer and if the challenger comes up with a proposal that is superior to the original proponent’s, we can ask FLI to match that offer. And if they are not willing to match it, then it goes to the highest bidder,” Yu said.

Interested developers will be given 90 days from the date of publication of the bid to submit their proposals.

Osmeña said, though, that the City will be selective with the challengers.

“While this is open for other developers to challenge, only qualified investors of the same stature and magnitude as (FLI) will be allowed to bid. We will not allow some developers from Samar who want to challenge it to come in. It has to have the same background and track record as (FLI),” he said during the press conference.

The SRP has so far cost the City some P2.76 billion in loan payments, interests and guarantee fees paid to the JBIC and the National Government.

Break

Since its construction began in 1997, the project hit some snags, including delays in the titling as a result of the adverse claims of a portion of the SRP by the Talisay City Government.

The proposed joint venture agreement allows profit-sharing, and a sharing of investment risks at the same time, the mayor said.

“A joint venture simply means partnership. There will be a sharing of profits and the sharing of risks… Under a joint venture, the profits are usually divided but in this case, we are just getting a percentage of the sales, basically 10 percent of the gross sales,” the mayor explained to the media and the City officials.

“Whether or not (FLI) gets profit, we get 10 percent of whatever sales they will get from building units, and we are guaranteed a minimum repayment of the sale price of the lots, plus, plus,” he continued.

Osmeña also guaranteed that the project will take off before his term ends in 2010.

No mad dogs

“And I guarantee you there will be no irong buang (mad dogs) at the SRP,” he said in jest, apparently referring to Capitol officials’ taunts that only rabid dogs are interested in the SRP.

Las Marias said they wanted to invest in the SRP four years ago yet, but the City still did not have the titles to the property, and it was still getting clearance from JBIC, the National Economic and Development Authority and the Commission on Audit.

When asked how long it will take FLI to complete the project, Las Marias said it may go on for many decades, depending on market demands.

If they win the bidding, FLI plans to start construction of the first phase immediately after the awarding of the contract and as soon as they get the permits from government agencies.

The seafront area will be the project’s main attraction and the selling point of the development.

“Everything will be market-driven. Even for the first phase, which will involve five to eight buildings, we don’t know how soon it will be completed. It will depend on what the market wants,” he said.

[blair]

Brod Blair: Salamat sa PM. For a change , i think ill booked their kay barato kaayo ilang promotional offer. I head also that ABACA will be openning a restaurant inside th hotel as well. Asa ni dapit brod sa Mactan...?

punta engano ni dapit bai, enjoy your stay..

[scalleluiah]

mo open napud ang pier1 sa parkmall.

[blair]

ug ang Juven's Grill..

[blair]

flickr pictures by @raceINTo8

[jdimpas]

Saturday, September 27, 2008

CEBU City officials find “very attractive” Filinvest Land Inc.’s (FLI) unsolicited proposal to develop the South Road Properties (SRP) and expect to get two other offers from major developers in a month’s time.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña will convene anytime the Joint Venture (JV) Selection Committee, which will evaluate the contractual arrangement for the JV proposal that FLI submitted last Thursday night.

Although they have yet to read the details of FLI’s offer, Vice Mayor Michael Rama and some city councilors said the package is attractive and could be advantageous to the City.

The outright 10-hectare purchase amounting to some P2 billion will relieve the City of the loan payment burdens for the next three to four years.

The City pays P300-P400 million every February and August for the principal amount of the loan, interest and other fees.

“Right now, from what I’ve seen, it’s very attractive but we have to get hold of the copy of the proposal, check every detail before we can say it’s acceptable or not,” Rama said.

Councilor Hilario Davide III, co-author of the “Ordinance prescribing guidelines and procedures for entering into JV agreements with private entities,” said that as long as the contract conforms with every provision of the ordinance, the council will approve it.

“We have not read the proposal yet but with an outright purchase of 10 hectares and a joint venture for 40 hectares, I think it’s a pretty good proposal... The important thing is that it will have to be consistent with the guidelines,” Davide told Sun.Star Cebu.

Last Thursday night, Cebuano-owned FLI presented their formal offer to City officials to buy 10 hectares of land and develop 40 hectares under a JV agreement.

The joint venture will include a cluster of high-rise buildings on the seafront, medical and retirement facilities, commercial and residential buildings and office spaces.

The City stands to gain at least 10 percent of the firm’s annual gross sales under the JV.

For Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem, FLI’s proposal will be hard to beat or match by other developers, considering that it took four years to prepare. “As explained during the presentation, it sounds very attractive and advantageous for the city,” he said.

According to the records of the City Treasurer’s Office, the City has so far paid P2.5 billion for the loan principal, interest and guarantee fees for the SRP.

It still has a balance of some P5.15 billion, payable up to 2025.

Osmeña said yesterday that other members of the JV Selection Committee will be picked next week and will be convened anytime.

From the mayor, the proposal will go to the selection committee, which will evaluate and review the contractual arrangement before it is returned to the mayor.

The committee will be chaired by City Administrator Francisco Fernandez, and will include as voting members the city attorney and three officers knowledgeable in finance, in joint ventures and the technical aspects of the project.

Non-voting members include an officer from a regulatory body, an observer from the Commission on Audit and two observers from the private sector.

Joel Mari Yu, the managing director of the Cebu Investments Promotion Center (CIPC), the marketing arm of the SRP, said they expect to get another proposal in a month’s time.

Yu said it’s unlikely that the two developers would just challenge FLI’s unsolicited proposal because they are interested in other areas of the 290-hectare SRP.

“They are submitting proposals for different areas, so they will not be competing against each other. We are expecting another proposal maybe within a month,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.

Yu said that while other developers were asked to refine their proposals, FLI’s was accepted because it fits the kind of integrated development the City wants for the SRP, and the firm was “the fastest to come up with a palatable proposal.”

In a phone interview last night, he also advised Tinago Barangay Councilor to start packing up because he might just have to resign, as he himself promised if the City doesn’t make a sale this year.

“Ipaputos na nya iyang mga butang. He has been making irresponsible statements about the SRP that he does not understand. It’s time for him to eat his words because they were said not out of knowledge or facts, but because of politics. There should be some comeuppance here because no one can say irresponsible things and be able to get away with it,” Yu told Sun.Star Cebu.