Empire East tops off Manila condo tower

lion compared with the previous year’s P18.75 billion.

Petron’s net income fell 20 percent to P6.14 billion from the previous year’s P7.7 billion. Net sales fell 8 percent to P367.03 billion from the previous year’s P398.51 billion.

The Philippine operations posted sales volume growth of 16 percent while Malaysia recorded 7 percent.

San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp.’s off-take volumes for the first semester ended at 10,685 gigawatt hour, 25 percent lower than last year’s level following the termination of its 670-megawatt power supply agreement with Manila Electric Co.

Consolidated net income jumped to P5.9 billion, more than four times higher than last year due partly to the appreciation of the peso this year.

SMC Infrastructure continued to deliver robust results as combined average daily traffic volumes across all its operating toll roads improved 13 percent to over 998,000 vehicles. As a result, consolidated revenues rose 23 percent to P16.6 billion from P13.42 billion.

Operating income reached P9.02 billion, up 50 percent from last year’s P6.01 billion.

San Miguel’s cement business, composed of Eagle Cement Corp., Northern Cement Corp. and Southern Concrete Industries Inc., registered consolidated revenues of P20.16 billion, tripling from last year’s P6.9 billion. Operating income rose to P3.02 billion, from P398 million the previous year.

PROPERT y developer Empire East Land Holdings Inc.

(EELHI) said on Tuesday that the remaining building of its condominium project in Sta. Mesa, Manila is almost completely sold due to a strong takeup in the housing market.

“Our sales are much better than prepandemic. First, because there’s always pent-up demand after a crisis. Second, [in] the middle-income market, there’s really a void,” EELHI President and CEO Anthony Charlemagne yu told the BusinessMirror in an ambush interview after the topping off ceremony for the Covent Garden North Tower.

He said the previous administrations have not responded to that particular shortage of mid-level residences in so far as the housing market is concerned.

“It’s the private developers that really are meeting that void. So the demand in housing is very strong in the Philippines now.”

At 30-story, Covent Garden North Tower features 485 units ranging from studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and bi-level with balcony and up to threebedroom units.

“Exclusivity is guaranteed in this vertical project since there are only 20 units per floor. Catered to middle-income and affluent markets, their price points range from P3.9 million to P20 million each. Amenity-wise, it has a 22-meter lap pool, kiddie pool, function hall, and gym—all seated on the 5th floor.”

Located along Santol Extension in Sta. Mesa, this two-tower development is transit-oriented as it is near transportation lines like the LRT-2 and the Philippine National Railways, making it accessible to the University Belt and the central business districts of Ortigas and Makati.

Despite the delay in the topping off, which was originally scheduled in March 2021, y u s aid the project is on track for completion and turnover of the North Tower will take place by the first or second quarter of 2024. Meanwhile, the South Tower—the project’s initial phase—is already sold out and ready for occupancy.

“We had some problems during the pandemic because of the lockdown. But now that we’re back, our skilled people are more or less regularly [working] already,” he noted.

Apart from Covent Garden, EELHI is already done with the 8th of the 37 towers of the Empire East Highlands, its largest project so far, which is located at its 22-hectare property in the Pasig-Cainta area.

Considered as one of the biggest developments of any developer in the country, said the company will start selling its inventory, including that of the upcoming 9th tower.

“We have launched that already and we continue launching one building after the other. So that is going to occupy a lot of our time because of the number of towers.” Roderick L. Abad