-AA+A
Saturday, November 24, 2012
THIRTY years ago, there were no major developments in Barangays Lahug and Talamban, save for the Cebu Plaza Hotel in Nivel Hills.
But this year alone, 13 new commercial establishments are about to rise in Talamban, based on the applications for building permits submitted to the Office of the Building Official (OBO).
Barangays Apas and Lahug, which also share the Asiatown IT Park, have 24 commercial developments between them.
Cebu City Assessor Eustaquio Cesa estimates that the real properties in Cebu City for this year will gain for the City P560 million in real property taxes next year, an increase of 45 percent year-on-year.
The increase in the estimated real property tax will come mainly from the new buildings cropping up at the IT Park.
Moving
From 1982 to 2012, one of the most visible signs of change in Cebu City is its skyline.
Mayor Michael Rama, the longest serving elected official without interruption for 20 years, remembered that in the 1970s to early 1980s, development was mostly in the downtown area.
Records from the OBO, which the Office of the City Administrator made available for Sun.Star Cebu, affirm the mayor’s statement.
In 1982 alone, applications for commercial building permits were centered on Colon St., M.J. Cuenco, and C. Padilla.
A few other developments were on F. Ramos, Mabolo and Don Gil Garcia.
But in 2012, aside from Barangays Apas, Lahug and Talamban, developments are mostly in what was considered the uptown area in the 1990s.
There have also been major developments in Barangays Kamputhaw, Guadalupe, Capitol Site and Kasambagan. Other developments are in Cebu Business Park and Barangay Luz area.
SRP action
Cebu Business Park started with one mall in 1994 but today, construction is ongoing for various residential condominiums and high-rise office buildings.
Change is also visible at the South Road Properties (SRP), which was developed in 1995 with an international loan. The first two developers of the projects are SM Prime Holdings Inc. and Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI).
Both developers intend to build a commercial and residential condominium in the area. Between them, 11 applications for commercial building permits were filed this year.
In 1982, the SRP was a body of water.
Increasingly, commercial developments are catching up to residential projects, which still account for a majority of new buildings in the city.
In 1982, there were 483 applications for building permits. Of this number, 390 were for residential buildings, while 61 were for commercial establishments. The rest were institutional, industrial and “other construction.”
About 80 percent of the structural development in Cebu City then was residential.
Booming
Between 1996 and 2005, when 15,619 building permits were applied for, 66 percent were for residential, while 23 percent were already for commercial developments.
In 2012, of the 892 business permits issued, 251 or 28 percent are for commercial developments. These include Marco Polo Residences, FLI’s residential condominiums, one of SM’s buildings for its Seaside City, office buildings at IT Park and many others.
Even the mountain barangay of Bacayan is a beneficiary of the city’s development; it is where Aboitiz Land’s Pristina North is located.
Last year, Sun.Star Cebu did a story that quoted the National Economic Development Authority as saying the construction industry is booming in Central Visayas.
Between 2011 and 2015, 30 medium- and high-rise buildings are expected to be built in Cebu City alone. The Seaside City is considered the biggest construction project and is pegged to be a P20-billion integrated development.
The highest building is projected to be Horizons 101 Towers 1 and 2 along Gen. Maxilom Ave., by Taft Properties. The first tower will have 55 floors while the second will have 46.
Back to Colon
Five of the 30 buildings are said to have over 30 floors—Horizon’s two towers, the 30-story GT Tower on Fuente Osmeña, 33-storey Ultima Residences Tower 4 and the 30-story Calyx Residences at the Cebu Business Park.
The growth is attributed to the strong demand for business process outsourcing (BPO) and tourism-related facilities and services in Cebu City.
But even if property developments have shifted from the downtown area to uptown and then to the Cebu Business Park and IT Park, Rama and some Cebuano business owners worked together for the Downtown Revitalization Program.
This December, the program will feature night markets on the stretch of Colon St., which the City will close to vehicular traffic.
The aim is to bring the people back to Colon, where businesses continue to survive, far from the shadows of the city’s emerging high-rises.
When in Cebu City, please visit http://www.gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.
Avail of the opportunity to own a condominium unit in Cebu City together with your own parking space at the low amount of only P12,000.00+ and House and Lot @ P 7,306.81/month only. Hurry while supply of units still last. Just call the Tel. Nos. shown herein: (053)555-84-64/09164422611/09173373687.
No comments:
Post a Comment