Two European travelers who visited the Philippines for a vacation five years ago discovered the huge opportunities in the local residential rental market. They saw the need to fill the demand for affordable accommodation and built medium-rise dormitories with thousands of bed spaces.
In five years, BigPat Development became known as an affordable high-rise developer and is on its way to completing its third and fourth projects—Araro and Honda Buildings that are mid-rise budget accommodations in Makati and Bonifacio Global City. The facilities are expected to help boost the country’s long-term rental industry as the Philippines navigates through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nestled within the accessible Makati area, Araro Building provides efficient living conditions fit for discerning young professionals and the growing workforce being asked to report back to their offices. Araro Building features a mid-rise boutique enclave with 90 studio units spread across seven stories, perfect for those looking for accessible accommodations for both short and long-term stays and within easy commute from major thoroughfares. Araro Building is located at 3933 Araro St. in Makati.
Meanwhile, Honda Building, which is supposed to house 70 studio units across seven stories, is set for groundbreaking before end of the year. Honda is located at 3549 Honda Street in Makati and is close and accessible to both EDSA and Bonifacio Global City.
BigPat Development co-founder and chief executive Alfonso Bigeriego Patiño said the company’s goal is to build and offer safe, yet affordable accommodations to Filipinos. “Our strategy is to continue investing and building affordable housing opportunities at ideal spaces and locations to ensure that our target market would be able to experience the convenience of location that is accessible to everything within the metro,” Patiño said.
Recovery
While the rental business has dwindled a bit since the pandemic, BigPat Development believes that the industry is slowly on its way to recovering and that the property industry will rebound in the next few months.
“We understand how hard and how bad the Philippines was hit during the onset of the pandemic and we are doing our best to able to cope with the effects. But as the country faces improvement on the numbers of COVID cases, we are optimistic that there will be a steady growth again for the property industry that can catapult our business into helping more individuals who are looking for both short and long-term accommodations,” said Jaime González, co-founder, and chief operating officer of BigPat Development.
“While construction is undergoing for our two new projects, we are happy to have been able to provide employment to roughly 350 construction workers since we started developing properties in the country. We are hoping to be able to launch both developments by second half of 2022,” González said.
BigPat
BigPat Development is an affordable high-rise developer that has been building affordable housing options in the Philippines for the past five years. The company’s story began when Patiño and González arrived in the Philippines five years ago.
The company’s first development was a 44-unit Virginia dormitory in Pasay back in 2016, which boasts of bathrooms in each unit, CCTV installation and within walking distance from Cash N Carry and an easy commute to Makati and Manila.
In 2020, the company completed its flagship dormitory, M H Dela Cruz Dorm in Pasay, which offers 1,182 bed spaces across 312 rooms. All rooms include a private bathroom and kitchen, and the building includes fast fiber WiFi and complete CCTV installation for safety.
“Our competitive advantage zeroes in on our approach to develop below average market prices to cater to the growing need of affordable housing and accommodations in the city,” said Patiño.
As the founder and CEO of BigPat Development, Patiño heads the acquisition, development and fundraising aspects of the business. He and his team have doubled the growth of their first property and maintained a double-digit yearly yield when it comes to operational cashflows.
Patiño has had extensive experience in managing teams, building operations, developing real estate and building retail businesses from the ground up in both the Philippines and Spain. He is a Business Major graduate from Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Meanwhile as co-founder and COO of BigPat Development, González leads the design, space optimization, procurement and construction process of their property developments. Like Patiño, González has founded several businesses spanning hotel and tourism, yacht charters, cloud kitchens, and laundromat industries in the country.
He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a master’s in aerospace Mechanics and Avionics from Supaero in France. González is also an aerospace and mechanical engineer by profession. Prior to co-founding BigPat, he worked for McKinsey & Co. as a consultant across Southeast Asia.