GT Capital realigns dev’t master plan for Lancaster project

GT Capital, the listed holding firm of tycoon George Ty, is recalibrating its master plan for its 1,700-hectare Lancaster New City in Cavite amid booming demand in the area that has pushed land values higher.

“We’re rethinking what’s optimal,” GT Capital president Carmelo Maria Luza Bautista said in a recent interview.

The Lancaster New City is strategically located near key infrastructure projects. It was established in 1999 by Property Company of Friends Inc. (Pro-Friends), which GT Capital acquired.

Pro-friends has built lowcost and affordable housing in many parts of the country, but its Lancaster New City is its flagship and the largest project spanning the areas of Kawit, Imus, and General Trias in Cavite.

GT Capital hopes to come out with a new master plan for the development by the second half, which will change the original blueprint for Lancaster from just an affordable housing community.

“With rising property values, maybe we should rethink our plans,” Bautista said, noting that the area may not be suitable for just affordable housing but other developments as well.

It could be a mixed-use commercial estate or even an industrial estate but Bautista said it really depends on the final new blueprint for the area.

At present, about half or 850 hectares had already been developed.

GT Capital is open to partnering with other property firms. It already has a track record of joint venture projects with the Ayalas, the Gokongwei Group and SM, among others.

Lancaster New City is highly accessible from Metro Manila via major roads and transport systems such as the Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex) and the upcoming LRT-1 extension. The township also houses several business process outsourcing firms and retail outlets.

Cavite is home to beneficiaries of overseas Filipino worker (OFW) remittances and BPO employees from Metro Manila. Close to 18 percent of total OFWs come from the region, highest in the country.

GT Capital has interests in market-leading businesses across banking, automotive assembly, importation, and dealership, infrastructure, water, power, toll roads, healthcare, rail, property development, and life and non-life insurance.

The conglomerate reported a net income of P7.1 billion in the first half compared with P7.2 billion a year ago, reflecting the slowdown in the auto industry’s unit sales.