VisMin developer Cebu Landmasters Inc. is expanding its high-end residential business while biding its time for its planned public offering of shares of its real estate investment trust (REIT) for hotels and commercial properties.

During the firm’s annual stockholders’ meeting, CLI Chairman and CEO Jose Soberano III said its first offering for the high-end market, the 38 Park Ave. residential condominium project in Cebu IT Park, has done very well.

“Because of what it has demonstrated in the market, we were able to attract the attention of this international real estate company to which we are already tied up with in a joint partnership, and the two lots that we are looking at are just beside this 38 Park Avenue and we hope to launch this late this year or early next year,” he noted. 

He added that “this represents a continuation of that luxury market. I'm sure this will not be just an attraction and a project that will be looked at here in the country to a large extent but also to our foreign market, particularly in Japan.”

Soberano said CLI also has another high-end project, the Pristina North, which the firm hopes to launch by the third quarter, anytime between July to September 2024. 

"We've been very transparent and open about our intentions to use the REIT vehicle to recycle capital back to CLI. And we've been saying this since last year," he said.

Meanwhile, CLI Chief Finance Officer Grant Cheng said their timeline for the REIT offering is for the next two to three years. 

“The reason for this is because you need to establish a proper track record. You need to establish an operating history because a REIT is a recurring income play," he said.

“In order to deliver maximum shareholder value to CLI as the parent who will sponsor the REIT, we want to make sure that the assets that we will infuse into the REIT, it will have to have that operating track record in order to maximize the value from the market,” he added.

Cheng also said, “the assets that we're planning to put in are our hospitality assets, our commercial and retail spaces, and, because we are at an inflection point where the majority of these capital investments are starting to show operations from late last year, this year, and next year, this will be a crucial time when we essentially prove to ourselves in the market that we can deliver these steady reliable recurring income streams.” 

As of the end of 2023, CLI has expanded its hospitality portfolio by opening three hotels and now boasts of more than 1,500 room keys with six more hotel projects underway.