SM Keppel Podium West Tower

Taipei 101

Ayala Tower 1

Insular Life Building

I took out an insurance policy with Insular Life when I was younger, so most of the time, when Insular Life is mentioned in a conversation, I think of the actual protection.  I was walking along Ayala Avenue at the onset of the Christmas holidays and I noticed that the renovation work on the Insular Life Building at the corner of Paseo De Roxas was complete. This time, I was thinking of their iconic building, one of the first built in Makati.

This building held plenty of memories for me (the 200-seat theater at the top floor was a favorite for intimate bookings, and Repertory Philippines used this as their home base for several years).  The new skin gives the building a fresh vibrant look, and the BPI branch at the ground floor lends a more upscale aura to the property (the space used to be leased by fast food chains).  The bold logo atop the building gives additional presence.

While I understand that their head office has actually moved to Alabang, this Makati office is still a major retail hub for the company.  I'd venture to say that the building sits on one of the most expensive real estate spots in the country.

Queens Peak

Poiz Residences

Anvaya Cove

It was a windy day in February, just perfect for our long drive out of town.  First on our agenda for last weekend's road trip was Anvaya Cove, a residential enclave developed by Ayala Land.  I'm always on the lookout for nice properties to purchase, and this seems like a nice place to set up a vacation house.

The community is lined with houses clearly espousing the tropical island look and feel.  I developed an instant liking to the place, which is easily accessible via SCTEX through the Subic Morong gate.  The community has both a beach club and a golf club, and lots and condominiums are currently being sold.  Relaxing views.

The only drawback with vacation homes is the number of times we get to use it a year's time. If the house is seldom used, it turns out to be a very expensive investment decision.  Love the place, but let me sleep over it...

The Playboy Mansion

* picture from epictimes.com

My my... I just read from Forbes that the center of many a young boy's nocturnal fantasy, the Playboy Mansion, is up for sale at a staggering price of US$200 million.  It will be sold on the condition that Playboy founder, Hugh Hefner, will continue to live there for the rest of his natural life.  Located at the Holmby Hills in Los Angeles, the 2,000 m2 mansion has 29 rooms, a wine cellar, a gym, swimming pool, and a tennis court.  Notably, the famous whirlpool inside its man-made cave is included in the price; of course this centerpiece creates all the hype and thus the stratospheric valuation.  It is the most expensive home currently being sold in the United States.  Maybe you have some extra cash to throw away?

Punta Fuego

I came across an old photo of Punta Fuego, taken from the resort cabanas at the club house.  A few years back, Monique and I drove to Punta Fuego to fetch Vicky, who had attended a seminar at the resort.  The view was fantastic and this brought back the memories of when the area was totally uninhabited.  In 1991, I remember taking a cabin cruiser from the Maya-Maya reef club with some friends to survey the peninsula. We knew this would be ripe for a marina and adjacent real estate development, but our foreign investors were not sold on the idea--we had our differences on how we'd densify the area.  Well, in years to come, Landco beat us to the draw, and the peninsula now has an active weekend leisure community.

Parc Regency by Pro-Friends

We wanted to find out more about the local economy--what was happening?  Luckily, our friend brought us to see the Parc Regency, a local community situated in Pavia, and developed by the Pro-Friends group.  Houses of around 60 to 85 m2 in floor area were situated on lot cuts of around 90 to 120 m2.  These were being sold at around P2 million to P2.5 million.  Not a bad deal at all, considering that the units could be dressed up as you see in these pictures.

I liked the country feel of the interiors, and the ambiance was very restful to my tired travelling eyes.  The layout was well thought out, and despite the limited area of the house, the look and feel didn't show any trace of the cramped tendencies of pre-fabricated homes.

The community has a large clubhouse, and wide roads.  As you can see, the developers placed a courtyard in between houses, in order to create the illusion of space.  While for some small-time developers, there sometimes exists a world of difference between model units and actual delivered units, I think that this particular developer is doing a good job, and that the village has the potential to be a commercial success.