IDC’s fresh approach to country’s secondary cities

SEEING the country’s rapid real-estate developments and their effects on the environment, Italian architect Romolo Nati and Filipino lawyer Jose D. Leviste III teamed up in 2009 and established Italpinas Development Corp. (IDC), then known as Italpinas Euroasian Design and Eco-Development Corp.

With their shared vision and passion in promoting sustainable developments in the Philippines, IDC was formed to be a design-driven real-estate development firm dedicated to developing high-performance properties in the country’s potential next-wave cities and will cater to the needs of the middle-income segment.

As a company that positions itself at the sustainability side of the industry, Nati, IDC chairman and COO, shared that the company aims to “bring back balance between nature and real-estate development.” “We have to create value not only for investors, but also for the community, environment and end users, as well. That means to be sustainable at 360 degrees,” Nati said.

Green and innovative designs

With a strong culture of research and innovation, IDC begins every project by analyzing target site’s weather, cultural, social and economic conditions.

Having an experience in design, real estate and property development in countries such as Italy, Estonia, Romania, and other European countries, Nati leads the company’s duly licensed and accredited architects in conceptualizing performance-based solutions and systems to deliver projects with smart designs and striking aesthetics.

Nati shared that green buildings need not to be too expensive. He said that the company utilizes passive green strategies wherein the natural conditions of the place are enhanced. An example of this are the facades that are shaded by cantilevered ledges, which protect windows from direct contact with the sun ray’s during the hottest time of the day. This decreases the building’s indoor temperature thus increasing natural ventilation.

This is in contrast with using active green strategies wherein buildings are designed with high-tech features that would need higher cost for materials and maintenance, which can result to the property’s higher selling price.

Also, for its flagship Primavera Residences in Cagayan de Oro City, Nati added that they use photovoltaic panels that produce certain amount of energy that are used by the common areas. The property has been recognized as the “Best Mixed-Use Development in the Philippines” at the International Property Awards in May 2014. It was also commended as one of the “Best Condo Developments in the Philippines” at the 2011 Southeast Asia Property Awards in Singapore.

Tapping secondary cities.

IDC aims to get ahead of others by bringing in developments to alternative locations such as emerging, fast-growing secondary cities. Nati shared that in the past, the lack of opportunities in the provinces made people migrate to cities where the opportunities are. From the provinces they go to Manila, resulting to aggressive immigration which created several problems like environmental degradation, lack of jobs, high cost of living and traffic.  Now they want to go back.

With that thought, Nati, together with Leviste, IDC president, decided to provide quality standard living for people who want to go back to the provinces where there are better conditions like lower cost of living, better environment and where work opportunities are rising.

Its Primavera Residences, a twin-tower condominium project situated inside a Philippine Export Zone Authority (Peza)-registered Pueblo de Oro Business Park in CdO, is considered to be the first to introduce condominium living in the city.

“We like Cagayan because it’s in Mindanao. We are very positive about Mindanao despite the bad stereotype. It is a very rich region and we like the fact that Cagayan is the gateway to Mindanao,” Nati said, adding that Mindanao also accounts for 50 percent to 60 percent of food trading and agriculture in the Philippines.

Other projects.

Primavera City, also in Pueblo de Oro Business Park, is an Italian-inspired project composed of seven mixed-use residential and commercial buildings. It began construction in fourth quarter of 2015 and will be completed in fourth quarter of 2017. This 13-story development will have two floors for parking, one floor for commercial use, two floors of office space, eight floors of residential space and a roof deck featuring amenities like a pool, gym, multipurpose function hall, and a roof garden.

Another is Miramonti located at the RFM Science Park, a Peza-registered industrial zone in Santo Tomas, Batangas. The project’s first phase is planned to be launched in early 2017. It will include state-of-the-art “eco-logic” apartments and commercial areas in a 20,000-square-meter location. The master-planned development is envisioned to be a green community composed of five mixed-use buildings with 23 floors each.

By Marianne Grace Sarmiento | Business Mirror – November 10, 2015