CLI chief executive officer Jose Soberano III (Photo from CLI)
MANILA – Banking on the strong business results in 2020 amidst the pandemic, officials of Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) are optimistic for their operations post-pandemic, citing that demand for housing remains.
In a virtual launch of the mixed-use, 32-floor Masters Tower Cebu on Friday, which the company targets to complete by 2025, CLI Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jose Soberano III said diversification efforts will continue to buoy them in the coming years.
“We will continue to go to our existing market here in VisMin (the Visayas and Mindanao) where we have very strong familiarity…We do feel that the demand for housing is still underserved both for vertical and horizontal,” he said.
He explained that although it is going to be more difficult to go to second-tier cities this time “what we want for 2021 is to consolidate where we are.”
He said CLI currently has real estate projects in 15 key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao and “we would like to expand from that base.”
He said they continue to see “a lot more potential” in the next years because of the company’s available real property assets.
He said they registered large reservation sales for their residential housing projects last year “and we continue to be bullish there.”
“We would like to blend that trust with the hospitality business because that is the strength that is so inherently here in Cebu, here in VisMin…We have not really scratched the surface in terms of the potential that we have as far as tourism is concerned, and travel,” he said.
Meanwhile, CLI Executive Vice President and COO Jose Franco B. Soberano, during the same briefing, said Masters Tower Cebu, designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM) in tandem with GF Partners and Architects, is seen to be an iconic tower since it will be the first five-star luxury hotel in Cebu.
The project, to be utilized by Sofitel Cebu City, will be operated by multinational chain Accor.
He said the project, which will cost more than PHP4 billion, is 100 percent owned by CLI and is on a long-term lease.
He said ground-breaking is targeted around May or June this year.
“Right now, we are in the bidding process, getting the best contractors and a Filipino team to do the project,” he added. (PNA)
