Residential property developers shifting to commercial office space
While there is a dearth of commercial office space in Sri Lanka, residential property developers are now looking at alternatives to cater to the demand for commercial office spaces in the country, an official in the local real estate sector emphasised.
On Tuesday, PropertyGuru for the first time launched the Asia Property Awards (APA) Sri Lanka at the Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo and Chairman of the panel of judges and Paramount Realty Co-founder and CEO, Nirmal De Silva made this statement in response to a question.
"Due to the lack of commercial office space buildings in Sri Lanka, it looks like the residential property developers are slowly moving into commercial building spaces," he said.
APA Sri Lanka will be a great opportunity for the local property developers to benchmark themselves in terms of transparency and reliability, stated Mr. De Silva while elaborating that the awards will provide exposure in a global context.
Speaking on the eligibility of nominees, he mentioned that projects that are completed or in the process of building that will be completed by 2020 where the structure is visible for site visits can be nominated for the awards.
Entries can only be nominated by a third party and the nominations will close on May 11, 2018. In another five years Sri Lanka's city skyline will evolve drastically, he noted.
On the procedures of obtaining the approvals for a property, he stressed that no matter if it takes two years or two hours to get an approval sorted, but it's all about compliance and relevant documentation. APA Sri Lanka might be the best platform for these approvals to be implemented properly, noted Mr. De Silva.
He also pointed out that Sri Lankan architects are among the best in the world, creative and good in execution.
PropertyGuru APA Founder and Managing Director, Terry Blackburn at the launch stated that there are more than 20 categories under which contestants will be shortlisted. "Sri Lanka has a very vibrant real estate sector and it's a positive time for the market here," noted Mr. Blackburn. Properties can benchmark at the APA Sri Lanka with maximum credibility and transparency, he added.