Tycoon Lucio Tan enters booming Philippine real estate scene!
02/22/2007

Airline, banking, and cigarette magnate Lucio Tan has finally decided to join the burgeoning Philippine real estate sector. Tan is the last of the Chinese-Filipino taipans to enter the business.

Mr. Lucio Tan recently launched his real estate vehicle, Eton Properties, Inc., and announced its plans to develop several properties the tycoon has accumulated over the years.

"We will develop residential condominiums, residential housing, office buildings, condotel, commercial centers, and leisure/retirement projects," a recent Eton newspaper advertisement declared.

Mr. Lucio Tan has under his wings several land holdings in the Makati business district, among them are the include the Philippine Airlines (PAL) building and the adjoining CharterHouse hotel fronting the booming Greenbelt lifestyle center; the currently-vacant property at the corner of Paseo de Roxas and Buendia that is now being used as a parking lot; and the De la Rosa and Herrera corner property behind Rufino Pacific Tower. Mr. Tan also has land in Ortigas and in Quezon City, most notably a 10-hectare mostly vacant land at the corner of Edsa and Quezon Avenue.

Mr. Lucio Tan also owns a two-hectare beachfront lot adjacent to SM Cebu, and another seaside spread in Calatagan, Batangas.

His Philippine National Bank owns at least another two hectares in the reclaimed land along Diosdado Macapagal Avenue.