Robinsons Land Corp., the real estate unit of Gokongwei group, is preparing the master plan for its first residential venture in China in line with the target to launch the project by 2018, sources said over the weekend.
Sources said Robinsons Land was now finalizing the master plan for the project, which would be submitted to the Chinese government for approval. It is also in the process of securing necessary permits to implement the project.
Under the plan, Robinsons Land will launch and start pre-selling the residential development within the 8.5-hectare property in Chengdu by 2018.
Most cities in China require condominium builders to top off the residential building before developers are allowed to pre-sell the units. In the Philippines, real estate developers could start pre-selling condominium units even before construction.
The Chengdu property is primarily a residential development, with least 90 percent of the property allotted for condominiums and the remaining 10 percentf or commercial development.
Robinsons Land spent $222 million to acquire the property in China.
Sources said the company had not yet allocated a significant amount of capital expenditures for China this year, as the company was still completing the masterplan.
Robinsons Land president Frederick Go earlier said company’s venture in China was also a good strategy to “expand the company’s base.”
Robinsons Land will target upper-middle market which Go said was a “very deep market” in China.
Robinsons Land, the real estate arm of conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc., is primarily engaged in the development and operation of shopping malls and hotels, and the development of mixed-use properties, office and residential buildings, as well as land and residential housing developments, including socialized housing projects in key cities and other urban areas nationwide.
The property firm earlier said it was targeting to double net income to P9.4 billion by 2019 from P4.7 billion in 2014.
Robinsons Land is spending P17 billion in capital expenditures in its fiscal year 2016, primarily for construction and land banking activities.
Robinsons Land is currently the second largest mall operator in the country with 39 malls with gross leasable area of 1.08 million square meters.
It is also one of the largest BPO landlords with 10 office buildings and gross leasable space of 275,000 square meters. It also operates 10 hotels.