By VG Cabuag
MEGAWORLD Corp. on Monday said it will launch its first upscale residential village in the Visayas and Mindanao in its 53-hectare Northill Gateway township in Bacolod City.
The project, called Forbes Hill, the high-end neighborhood along the new Bacolod-Silay Airport Access Road, will soon rise on a 15-hectare prime portion of the Bacolod side of the township.
It features bigger lot sizes, wide street roads and first-class leisure and recreational amenities, promising a low-density community that evokes exclusivity and privacy to residents, the company said.
“This is the company’s first venture for a luxury village outside of Metro Manila because we recognize the sophisticated market in this wonderful province,” said Rachelle Peñaflorida, the company’s vice president for sales and marketing.
There will be 197 lots to be sold with sizes ranging from 449 square meters to 861 sq m, she said. Prices start at P16,000 to P17,000 per square meter.
“This means there will only be 197 homeowners or even less in Forbes Hill. This is why exclusivity and privacy are guaranteed,” Peñaflorida said.
Forbes Hill has a low density of only around 13 residential lots per hectare. Around one-third of the entire village will be allocated for open and green spaces, and roads that are 12 to 20 meters wide.
The upscale neighborhood will feature first-class amenities for its residents, which include an events hall, fitness center, game room, entertainment room, lap pool, children’s pool, a gazebo park and a basketball court.
“More important, we are giving our residents a wider breadth of lifestyle amenities that the entire Northill Gateway township brings—from malls and commercial centers to office spaces and educational institutions—everything will just be within reach,” Peñaflorida said.
Megaworld, along with its unit Suntrust Properties Inc. and in partnership with the Lacson Family, is developing the 53-hectare Northill Gateway, which is envisioned to be a refreshing lifestyle district that will house residential villages, a 7.5-hectare mixed-use office and retail development, leisure and recreational hubs, as well as institutional facilities.
Megaworld’s previous upscale residential neighborhoods in Metro Manila include McKinley Hill Village in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig; Corinthian Hills in Quezon City; McKinley West Village right beside Forbes Park; and the upcoming Alabang West Village in the rising township of Alabang West in Las Piñas City.
“These upscale villages have seen their prices doubling in just three to five years. McKinley West Village, for example, started selling at around P75,000 per sq m in 2010. Today, it is selling at P170,000 per sq m or a price jump of almost 130 percent. We expect Forbes Hill to also increase its value in the next few years as things rise within the township,” Peñaflorida said.