Tagged: Review

A new integrated residential-resort development will soon rise in Tagaytay City.  Fil-Estate Land, Inc. and Megaworld Corp. have partnered to develop a world-class tourism-oriented project called Twin Lakes, over a 1,149-hectare property.

The first phase of the project will include a luxury hotel, residential villas and condominiums, a shopping village, botanical garden, sports and country club, and plantation estates. 

South of Manila is Makati City, considered as the financial capital of the country. Along Ayala Avenue rise modern skyscrapers, which are home to multinational companies, foreign embassies and local banks. The trendiest leisure spots – hotels, restaurants, bars, music lounges, fashion boutiques and department stores – converge around the sleek Ayala Center and Greenbelt. Across EDSA is the posh subdivision of Forbes Park, home of the country's rich and famous. One area that now competes with Makati in terms of its modern architectural landscape is the Ortigas Center between Mandaluyong City and Pasig City. Home to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), it is also the site of three of the country's richest shopping malls – SM Megamall, Robinson's Galleria, and Shangri-la EDSA Plaza.Also within Ortigas is the striking leisure enclave, Saint Francis Square, with its fine restaurants and fashionable music lounges.

A photograph taken by Mr. George Tapan on Onuk Island in Balabac, Palawan has bested 21,000 entries from 130 countries to be the winner of the National Geographic Photo Contest 2011.  The winning photograph titled “Into the Green Zone” bagged the first place in the Places Category of the highly prestigitious National Geographic photo contest.  The winning photos were judged by respected National Geographic magazine photographers Tim Laman, Amy Toensing, and Peter Essick.

Azalea Residences, a 99-suite-suite vacation residence, has recently opened in Baguio city. “It is the hotel that offers the brand of convenience and amenities of top international hotels, yet maintaining the natural texture and traditional character of the Philippines at a very affordable price,” said Azalea Resorts and Residences COO Dulah Lipardo.

A Korean group, which is constructing a 616-room resort hotel complex in Lapu Lapu City, has unveiled its plan to also construct a retirement village and a golf course in the coastal town of Cordova located at the southeastern tip of Mactan Island, Cebu.

Serviced apartment provider Oakwood is back in the Philippines, with the formal opening on September 9, 2009 of its 223-unit Oakwood Premier Joy~Nostalg Center Manila in Ortigas Center built by the leisure and resort property unit of the family of biscuit magnate Jacinto Ng.

Undeterred by the global economic crisis, Oakwood Premier Joy~Nostalg Center Manila, occupying 28 floors of the P3-billion 41-storey Joy~Nostalg Center Manila, actually had a soft launching on August 1, but the formal opening of the hotel is on September 9, 2009.
"We are back in the Philippines," said Oakwood Premier Joy~Nostalg Center Manila general manager Brian Connelly. "Ortigas is the best location for corporate business. It is located just across the Asian Development Bank and is near large shopping malls, business process outsourcing establishments and call centers."

Connelly said Oakwood Premier is looking at business travellers, tourists, and Filipinos as its market. "We are drawing people from as far as Makati and Quezon City," he said.

Radisson Blu Hotel, a 400-room five-star hotel, is set to open in Cebu City.  Built by SM Hotels and Conventions Corp. at a cost of PhP3 billion, Radisson Hotel will be managed by global hospitality and travel firm Carlson.

Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels Inc. has announced the first concrete pouring for its US$1 billion Entertainment City Project in Parañaque City.  The project is expected to generate some 4,000 jobs once it starts operations by the third or fourth quarter of 2012.