Megaworld Corporation took home its first-ever Best Developer award at the fourth annual Philippines Property Awards gala held at the Fairmont Hotel Wednesday evening.
The Dr Andrew L Tan-led company started the evening with 16 nominations, with Uptown Bonifacio getting six nods. The high-end urban township eventually won Best Residential Architectural Design for the Uptown Ritz condominium development.
Last year’s Best Developer winner SM Group was nominated for 10 awards through its various subsidiaries, and took home Best Commercial Development (Philippines) for SM Seaside City Cebu, a retail project undertaken by SM Prime Holdings Inc.
The conglomerate also won the Special Recognition in CSR for providing Filipinos “five-star” homes in prime locations around the country, as well as building public school classrooms across the islands.
Presented by Hansgrohe, the fourth edition of the Philippines Property Awards 2016 welcomed a new category to reward the country’s outstanding boutique developers. In the category for Best Boutique Developer, AppleOne Properties Inc pipped King Properties. Fellow Cebu-based firms, Primary Homes Inc and Cebu Landmasters Inc, collected several Winners and Highly Commended accolades in other categories.
This year’s year’s entries doubled to more than 200 compared to 2015. “Whilst there’s still an emphasis on Metro Manila, there was an increase in the number of entries from Cebu and also Davao,” said Lindsay J Orr, chief operating officer of Jones Lang LaSalle Philippines and chairman of the judges.
A highlight of the night was the presentation to former Senate President Manuel B Villar Jr, founder of the Vista Land Group, of the Real Estate Personality of the Year award by the editors of Property Report.
“I am grateful for, and humbled by, this recognition from the Philippines Property Awards,” said Villar.
Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc took home the Best Housing Development (Philippines) award for Northpoint, located in Davao. This project will move on to compete at the South East Asia Property Awards grand finale in Singapore this November.