The exclusive Forbes Park enclave in the Philippines capital lures moguls and ambassadors to its quiet streets
The streets of Forbes Park in Manila, a bustling metropolitan area of about 16.5 million people, are so quiet that residents can hear insects buzzing even during rush hour.
The neighborhood, divided into North Forbes and South Forbes, is one of the most exclusive enclaves in the Philippines. Spanning about one square mile with some 2,500 residents, the community is home to Filipino business moguls and ambassadors. It is also a popular neighborhood for expats, who, on average, pay about $9,000 a month to lease a home there. Traffic police routinely stop cars on main thoroughfares to let residents turn in and out of the gated communities.
“It’s the Boardwalk or Park Place of Manila,” says Raphael Arcenas, a local real-estate broker who rents and renovates homes in the neighborhood. “Once you’ve made it here, this is your address.”
Forbes Park properties allow for lush landscaping, as community rules limit the footprint of houses. Nacho Hernandez for The Wall Street Journal
Professional boxer Manny Pacquiao owns a home in North Forbes that he bought in 2011 for about $8 million, say local real-estate agents. He is selling it for nearly $16 million, they add. Mr. Pacquiao’s adviser confirmed he owns a home in the area, but didn’t respond to queries about its sale.
The Zobel de Ayala family, which developed Forbes Park as well as Manila’s central business district, also lives there. So do billionaires Lucio and Susan Co, owners of the Puregold Price Club supermarket chain, and Robbie Antonio, an art collector and managing director of real-estate firm Century Properties; he commissioned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas to build his Forbes Park home, completed in 2013.
In recent years, prices in North and South Forbes have climbed, as the new business district of Bonifacio Global City, or BGC, pulls in tenants such as tech giant Oracle and the forthcoming Philippine Stock Exchange headquarters. Forbes Park rests between the traditional Makati Central Business District and the rapidly growing BGC, allowing executives to commute to either in less than 15 minutes. North Forbes was developed first. South Forbes has larger lots.
“Nowhere in Manila can you find that kind of development with access to amenities without a lot of traffic,” says Claro Cordero, head of research, consulting and valuation at property consultancy JLL Philippines.
Today, the median house price in Forbes Park is $8.4 million, according to a report from Lamudi, a global property website that focuses on emerging markets. Most lots measure half an acre to an acre, and Forbes Park Village Association rules limit the footprint of the home to about one-third of the land, leaving room for lush landscaping. Homes average 6,000 to more than 15,000 square feet.
While the Forbes Park barangay, or administrative village, must approve building plans, there is no uniform style. Houses built in the 1960s and 1970s are scattered among contemporary designs.
Many house hunters are willing to tear down an old property and rebuild just to get into the area, says Dominic Lorico, a local real-estate broker.
Bo Garcia, who owns a BMW dealership in Manila, bought a 1970s Forbes Park home a year and a half ago for about $8 million. He and his wife are living in the home while they await approval on their plans to build a six-bedroom house with a 12-car garage, home theater, massage room, elevator, gym and hair salon. “It’s a really good investment and one I can grow old in,” Mr. Garcia says.
Other Forbes Park homeowners update properties, then lease them for $5,000 to $12,000 a month; about 35% of Forbes Park homes are rentals.
North Forbes has a community center that includes a playground, a hall space where Mass can be celebrated (more than 80% of Filipinos are Catholic) and a basketball court. Calamansi trees and bougainvillea line the streets, and individual security gates hide many homes.
Between North and South Forbes is San Antonio Plaza, with a grocery store, eateries and coffee shops. Opposite the plaza is Santuario de San Antonio, a 40-year-old parish that has a two-year waiting list for weddings, Mr. Lorico says.
The rapid growth of Bonifacio Global City, a new business district, has helped fuel the rise in property values at Forbes Park. Nacho Hernandez for The Wall Street Journal
Forbes homes typically feature two kitchens (one clean kitchen for light cooking and the other so-called dirty kitchen for, say, roasting meats), his-and-her wardrobes, Narra wood floors and half-basketball courts—a popular amenity in the hoops-loving country. Outdoor pools are also common.
Forbes Park was established in the 1940s by Ayala Corp., a real-estate, utilities and telecom conglomerate. It was part of the vision for a subcity of Manila, today’s Makati. To bolster the allure of the new neighborhood, the company persuaded the Manila Polo Club and the Manila Golf and Country Club to move to the Makati area.
The Forbes neighborhood is named after William Cameron Forbes, the American governor-general who helped bring polo to the Philippines.
Marivic Meer de Leon has lived in Forbes Park for 50 years. Her father, a Manila lawyer, was one of the first residents to move into the area, purchasing a four-bedroom bungalow with a living room, den and music room in South Forbes Park in 1965. “We had no neighbors at the back,” Ms. Meer de Leon says of her childhood there. “Now mansions are sprouting up left and right.”
The neighborhood has some challenges. One pressing issue is whether to install cellphone antennas. Mobile-phone service is notoriously weak, but some homeowners oppose the fix. “The posts will be on my street and I don’t want them there,” Ms. Meer de Leon says.
Then there is the issue of car access. Forbes Park residents get car passes that allow them to use restricted community roads, avoiding the congested main roads during rush hour. Mr. Garcia wants a per-household limit to prevent homeowners from buying passes for friends looking for traffic shortcuts. “Who needs 14 stickers if you have three cars?” he asks. “If there are too many given out we won’t be escaping traffic anymore.”
Corrections & Amplifications:
Forbes Park is in the Philippines’ Metropolitan Manila, which has a population of 16.5 million people, according to the World Bank. An earlier version of this article cited the population of the smaller Manila proper. (July 31, 2015)
Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-villa-in-manila-1438266056
