CLI chair and CEO Jose Soberano III (Photo by Meg J. Adonis)

MANILA, Philippines — Visayas and Mindanao-focused developer Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) will spend P12 billion on its Luzon debut next year, beginning with a horizontal development in the south.

CLI chair and CEO Jose Soberano III told reporters on Wednesday that their planned housing development would span 50 to 100 hectares and have up to 10,000 homes.

“On how we will phase it, it depends on how we size up the demand,” Soberano said during the launch of CLI’s new regional office in Makati City.

READ: Cebu Landmasters debuts into coworking space

The CEO hinted at building the project either in Cavite or Batangas province due to demand in these areas, although discussions with investors have yet to be finalized. Land acquisition is ongoing and pegged at around P5 billion, he said.

At the same time, CLI is planning to launch a condominium project “near Metro Manila” consisting of at least two towers.

According to Soberano, they first wanted to onboard a strategic partner before pursuing a vertical residential development in Luzon.

In a statement Wednesday, the finance department said it has signed a loan agreement amounting $111.427 million or about P6.34 billion for the Samar Pacific Coastal Road (SPCR) II project in Northern Samar, which is being supported by the Export-Import Bank of Korea-Economic Development Cooperation Fund, while a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was also signed and exchanged for the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network Project Phase 1 and the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridges Project.

“We want to be cautious on the choices that we have to make,” he said. “If we are positioning on a property, we have to be absolutely certain that by the time we launch it, we have a good percentage of takeup.”

CLI, which debuted on the local bourse in 2017, currently has nearly 130 projects across 17 key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Its portfolio includes residential developments, offices, hotels and resorts, coliving and coworking spaces, mixed-use projects and large-scale townships.

In pursuing a Luzon expansion despite the inventory surplus in Metro Manila, CLI chief operating officer Jose Franco Soberano cited the company’s 93-percent takeup rate in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“We’re entering with zero supply in Metro Manila, so we are really at a very strong position because we can go where the demand should be,” the younger Soberano said.

In the January to September 2024 period, CLI’s earnings grew by 7 percent to P2.3 billion due to a surge in leasing and hospitality revenues.

Leasing revenues soared by 47 percent to P144 million after it added 9,219 square meter of new leasable space.

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Hospitality revenues, meanwhilegame ape, swelled by 52 percent to P149 million following the opening of three new projects during the period. CLI has also recently diversified into the coworking business after launching WorkNook in Cebu City earlier this month.