More MyTown dorms to open in next 12 months
SM INVESTMENTS Corp. (SMIC) expects a total of 12 dormitory buildings under the MyTown brand to be up and running within the next 12 months.
MyTown, a chain of dormitories by Philippines Urban Living Solutions, Inc. (PULS), currently has five operational properties in the Bonifacio Global City (BGC) area in Taguig City and Makati City, with seven more under construction.
“They currently have a total of 12 properties, five of them have been developed. All of the 12 they are hoping to open within the next 12 months,” SMIC Senior Vice-President and Investor Relations Head Corazon P. Guidote told reporters last Friday, adding that the mature developments currently enjoy an occupancy rate of around 90%.
SMIC completed its acquisition of a 61.2% stake in PULS in April this year, allowing the Sy-led company to enter the dormitory development sector.
MyTown rents out rooms at P17,000 per month, with a maximum of four people allowed to share a unit and split the rental costs. All rooms come with built-in Wi-Fi access, while amenities include a 20-meter lap pool, movie theater, game rooms, a gym, KTV rooms, study rooms, and a roof deck.
Each development also has leasing spaces for convenience stores, internet cafes, and laundromats, among others, according to its Web site.
Asked for expansion plans after the completion of the 12 properties, Ms. Guidote noted the company will “just keep expanding within the BGC area.”
“Ang laki ng gap. Most of the accommodations in BGC are very expensive then maraming mga BPO ( business process outsourcing) workers who need some kind of parang transient living type. Yung dorm accommodation is very practical for them. So during the weekdays they stay in MyTown and during the weekends umuuwi sila,” she added.
The company, however, may target areas outside BGC once operations in the area are successful.
“They can go elsewhere also where there’s a need for the same kind of service,” Ms. Guidote said.
In a property market report for the second quarter of 2017, property consultancy Colliers International noted that real estate firms should target these kinds of dormitory developments given the continued expansion of BPO firms in the country.
“These halfway residential units are for professionals who want to live near their place of work. The worker-accommodation units are also more practical for employees working in CBDs (central business districts) as the worsening traffic in Metro Manila only makes their commute to and from work more unbearable,” according to Colliers. The holding firm of country’s richest man Henry Sy, Sr. reported an attributable profit of P16.59 billion in the first semester, up 9.03% year on year.
Shares in SMIC added P4.50 or 0.55% to P821 each at the close of trading last week. —