LISTED Visayas-Mindanao property developer Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) will expand to the Luzon market with a planned vertical project in Metro Manila and a horizontal project in Cavite.

Jose Franco Soberano, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of CLI, told analysts last week that while the Visayas and Mindanao (VisMin) will remain CLI's focus, "I believe it's very important [to build] awareness in Metro Manila and for Metro Manila to see what made us successful in VisMin: our approach, our value for money, our servicing."

CLI Chief Financial Officer Beauregard Grant Cheng, meanwhile, dropped more hints about the company's planned Luzon developments.

"When we say Metro Manila, it is not Greater Metro Manila we're talking about [but] a very nice piece of land in Metro Manila right beside a very bustling commercial [site] — it's within a bustling commercial center — high density, with great infrastructure," Cheng said.

"I myself [was] born and raised in Manila. I know that neighborhood. It's going to sell. If we'll just execute our product the same way that we're executing [projects] here in Cebu, that's going to do really well," the CLI official added.

The horizontal project in Cavite is said to be surrounded by other subdivisions and that CLI was "already essentially in the closing stages of acquiring this [piece of] land."

Cheng shared his excitement about building a good relationship and partnership with the community and in bringing CLI's signature Casa Mira brand to the housing market in Luzon.

"I'm really excited to launch that. It's one that will, I'm sure, turn heads. And people from Luzon will say, wow ... [they] will get to know CLI like people in the Visayas and Mindanao already know CLI," Cheng said.

CLI recorded a net income to the parent of P1.7 billion in the first half of 2024, up 24 percent from last year's profit of P1.37 billion, on the back of a 24-percent surge in revenues to P11.31 billion.

"Cebu Landmasters is poised to sustain this growth trajectory over the next few years with more projects opening in the coming months, and as we further expand to new market areas," CLI Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jose Soberano III said.

CLI shares closed up 1.15 percent at P2.64 apiece last Friday.