The firm is looking to enter the affordable housing segment to prepare for the enactment of a bill requiring condominium developers to have socialized housing projects.
"There is already a draft bill. So we are already preparing for that," Rockwell Land president and chief executive officer Nestor Padilla said.
Rockwell's venture into the socialized housing segment, which will be under the Stonewell brand, will allow the company to expand its footprint in Luzon.
Socialized housing projects are house and lots that cost less than P400,000 per unit.
The draft bill, Balanced Housing Development Act, aims to address the issue of housing backlog.
Under the draft bill, developers “shall be required to develop an area for socialized housing equivalent to at least 20 percent of the total subdivision or condominium net saleable floor area or total subdivision or condominium project cost within the same city or municipality, whenever feasible, and in accordance with the standards set by the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board and other existing laws".
Rockwell Land has also closed a 25-year deal for a retail and office venture in San Juan and Mandaluyong.
Expansions of the Power Plant Mall are also expected to start this year and will be completed by 2017.
The mall expansion will add 5,700 square meters of leaseable space and two cinemas.
Rockwell is the real estate unit of the Lopez group engaged in the residential development of high-rise condominiums, retail, and office leasing.
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
