Anchor Land breaks ground for P1.5-B Cosmo Suites

ANCHOR LAND Holdings, Inc. is venturing into the “bedspace” business, starting with the development of a P1.5-billion project in the Bay Area that looks to cater employees of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in the area.

In a statement issued over the weekend, Anchor Land said it has broken ground for Cosmo Suites in Pasay City, the first facility offering bedspace under its portfolio.

Cosmo Suites is a 16- storey twin- tower project housing more than 800 units sized from 22- 32 square meters. It will offer 3,000 beds mainly catering to young professionals from the BPO sector, as well as employees of hotels and casinos in the Bay Area.

“We have meticulously planned for each unit, taking into consideration how our clients can co-live in a room in the most efficient way… With Cosmo Suites’ high- end amenities and industrial interior design, we offer our clients a condo-like living,” Anchor Land Chief Executive Officer Steve Li said in a statement.

Cosmo Suites seeks to provide a halfway home to employees working in Pasay City during the weekdays, allowing them to avoid the infamous Metro Manila traffic during rush hours.

Amenities in Cosmo Suites will include an open lounge area, a 20-meter lap pool, fitness gym, basketball court, badminton court, and a game room.

Office developers are currently rushing to develop more projects in the Bay Area to take advantage of the growing demand for leasable spaces by Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

POGOs occupied 48,000 square meters of office space for the first quarter of 2018 alone, most of which are in the Bay Area, Pasig City, and Makati City, according to real estate consulting services firm Pronove Tai International.

A separate report by Colliers International Philippines noted that the Manila Bay Area is expected to have an additional 935,800 sq.m. of office spaces from 2018 to 2021, a 39% increase from the 400,900 sq.m. seen at the end of 2017.

Anchor Land will also be opening the high-end Bay Life Venue in the Bay City soon, which will house the Anchor Land Corporate Center and a seafood restaurant. The company is further ramping up construction of tourism-related projects in Boracay and Coron, Palawan.

Incorporated in 2004, Anchor Land develops mostly luxury residential projects for the FilipinoChinese community. Its projects are located in Manila, Pasay, Parañaque, and San Juan, including the Mayfair Tower, Mandarin Square, Solemare Parksuites, Wharton Parksuites, and Admiral Baysuites, among others.

The company’s net income grew 11% to P620.05 million in 2017, higher than the P559.76 million posted the year before on the back of a 25% increase in revenues to P6.01 billion.