P.A. Alvarez Properties Development Corp. goes beyond building homes. It creates a community where people with shared aspirations support each other to reach one goal at time.
“We know the story of every homebuyer and the story behind the homes that we build. And we strive further to constantly create a happy ending to each and every homebuyer’s storybook. Every story of homebuyers include their aspiration and desire to own a modest yet presentable housing unit inside a respectable community,” said P.A. Properties president Marianne Cruz.
Cruz, a lawyer, says that in nearly three decades of weaving dreams and making them a reality for Filipinos, the company established itself as a reliable partner, especially, to first-time home owners.
P.A. Properties represents homebuyer’s fulfillment in life together with their immediate family.
Cruz emphasizes the company’s mantra of knowing what customers has in mind for a first home, how the company works harder to help the working class realize their dreams of owning a home.
P.A. Properties’ model houses fit the housing profile of the working class—affordable, secure, relaxed and gratifying.
“We want them to experience what they are only dreaming about – to live in a gated community with 24-hour security and enjoy the amenities of common areas where people mingle for interaction and relaxation – all within their budget,” Cruz said.
“Knowing our market, what it needs and what our client wants, has given the company a respectable market share in all of its developments in Southern and Central Luzon areas,” she says.
The unwavering support of management in harnessing the talents and capabilities of its employees and staff has helped in the delivery of necessary services related to community development, not to mention the unwavering support to homeowners and their associations.
The company’s concern for homebuyers does not end when one fully paid the cost of having a home. PA Properties steadily enhances its after-sales services, mindful of the needs and wants of homebuyers despite the many challenges that face any subdivision or township developers.
One thing the company is also proud of is the very enterprising approach of its over 1,000 sellers who do house-to-house visits to educate potential clients, as they brave communities in low-income areas and reach to families residing in hidden alleys.
29 years and counting
As the company nears another milestone, it also wants to create memorable milestones with the townships it has created, thus far. One year away from celebrating its pearl anniversary in 2024, P.A. Properties has already built over 30,000 units of affordable housing.
“With its almost 30 years of pro-active presence in the housing and subdivision development front, P.A. Properties unceasingly strives to not just follow the trend of home building but more on coming out with township communities that helped recreate the lives and uphold the dignity of every individual or families by owning a home they can call their own,” Cruz says. The company is celebrating its 30th anniversary on Dec. 8.
One aspiration of the company is to spread the joy of owning a home to families in the Visayas and Mindanao, giving the people in these regions a chance at better life starting from owning a house.
It has answered the call of the government to ramp up the production of economic and socialized housing through the Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pamilyang Pilipino program or the 4PH program.
The 4 PH is a priority program of the Marcos government that aims to narrow the gap in housing backlog estimated at 6.3 to 6.5 million, with annual increments adding to the already huge logjam.
The company’s existing and pipeline projects in Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Metro Manila and Pampanga, a mixture of horizontal and mid-rise housing, are expected to contribute to joint public and private efforts to successfully implement the 4PH program.
A standing partnership with Japanese developer Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp. (HHPC), forged in 2017, opened opportunities for the company to build higher prices, yet still affordable, single detached housing under the Idesia and Idesia Heights brand. Nevertheless, P.A. Properties distinguished itself as the company’s face of socialized housing.
The company is slowly injecting commercial component to communities it built as it continues to expand its services by allowing livelihood activities in company-owned spaces adjacent to the townships. It has established a few wet and dry markets beside the townships, where homeowners or any interested entrepreneurs are welcome to lease space and sell goods.
Currently trending are the so-called shophouses, a type of building with commercial space for business of any kind at the lower level of the structure and a residence component at the top floor.
Cruz says while they’re not the first to offer the shophouse concept, P.A. Properties has certainly kept its market edge among other providers of similar models as units have been selling like crazy and are usually the first ones to be sold out.
Changing of guards
Cruz is a company-bred leader, who assumed the top management post as soon as P.A. Properties previous president Jonathan Lu retired in July 2022.
Working on various corporate capacities as a legal counsel, HR and administrative head helped her in her journey to become the well-rounded and grounded leader she is now.
Crus was actively involved in the law profession as a fastidious litigation lawyer before she joined P.A. Properties 18 years ago as one of the company’s first professional managers.
“I was looking for a company that has a sense of purpose. And when I joined them, they let me handle the projects, a role that I like doing because it is more than legal work. I literally grew up here. This is where I found my home as a professional, and this is where I started a family,” she says.