Viable promises offered by new condo in the south
The allure of living within walking distance from where you shop, eat out and do business continues to entice urban dwellers to buy residential condominium units even in southern Metro Manila. In this part of the metropolis where the house-and-lot owners still enjoy blue skies and green surroundings, traffic jams are now also increasingly becoming annoyance and hindrance to mobility.
The 40-story Bristol at Parkway Place is the newest addition to a neighborhood of condominiums called Millionaire’s Row in Filinvest City currently generating market interest. Just a stroll away from restaurants, stores, offices and medical centers, it is set for turnover to clients beginning 2018. But a significant number of its units been snapped up by buyers mostly from within the vicinity and Calabarzon.
Buyers intend to live in the iconic tower offering picturesque views to be near their business or once they retire. In the meantime, some intend to rent out the unit with open plans to expats working in Filinvest City and the industrial sites of Laguna and Cavite who have shown a marked preference for high-rise living in what they call a “walkable neighborhood”, according to Catherine Ilagan, Filigree head.
“Whether one is an end-user or tenant, the chief attraction of Bristol is that its location free residents from being overly dependent on the car and encourages greater mobility and better health,” she says. Moreover, when they do have to drive out, they are only less than a kilometer away from Filinvest City exit of the South Luzon expressway and a 30-minute drive to Makati on average and a number of major manufacturing sites.
For a number of investors, still another attraction of Bristol and other developments in the south is that its capital values or the cost of residential condo units are still significantly lower compared to Makati ‘s P 165,000 to P 255,000 per square meter or Bonifacio Global City’s P 145,000 to 188,000 per sq m. At the same time, there is high demand for such units from high-net-worth individuals, top executives from the business-process outsourcing industry and multinationals, according to a JLL Philippine Property Digest issued mid-2016.
Expats and Philippine residents returning from work stints abroad are particularly attracted to the open, garden feel of Bristol’s Filinvest City community now undergoing further enhancements. These include the addition of new parks and the establishments of an ambitious greenway system, allowing pedestrians to comfortably walk and bike from north to south and from east to west.
For future Bristol residents, the improvements will mean an environment that will even be healthier that it already is. Bristol’s location in Filinvest City are close to Laguna de Bay exposes to it to southwest and northeast winds (amihan and habagat). In fact, Bristol residents will only need to open their balcony doors and windows to enjoy the winds, a rare luxury for condo dwellers in Metro Manila.
This unique feature and its location in a walkable community can only bode well for Bristol buyers. US studies show that real-estate values generally increase as neighborhoods become more pedestrian friendly and allow residents to meet their everyday needs by walking or biking — viable routes to fitness, health and secure future.