About 75% of the building’s fashionable units, ranging in price from $100,000 to $2 million, have sold since hitting the sale block in January. Perhaps then it’s not surprising that Century Properties, whose founder Jose Antonio ranked 24th with $245 million on Forbes’ list of the Philippines’ Richest, has just announced another luxury condo collaboration with yet another iconic Italian fashion brand: Missoni.
Missoni Home, the housewares branch of the Varese, Italy-based fashion company, will design the amenities in a yet-to-be-named luxury condo complex slated for construction in Manila. The building’s projected completion date is 2015 and prices will start at $100,000.
Missoni Home is not new to commercial real estate. It designed the Hotel Missoni line with Rezidor Hotel Group, with hotels open or opening in Scotland, Kuwait, Turkey, Omanan and Brazil. But the collaboration with Century Properties marks the first time the fashion house is venturing out into residential real estate.
“Century Properties is honored to launch the first condominium in the world with amenities designed by Missoni,” says Robbie Antonio, managing director at Century Properties, in an email. “It was a natural extension for us to collaborate with Missoni given our predilection to further our portfolio of luxury branded projects as well as our goal of making Manila an international city.”
Fashion-real estate collaborations have become increasingly popular in recent years, with fashion brands like Armani, Gucci, and Roberto Cavalli signing up to design residences and hotels in cities around the world. In May, Tommy Hilfiger went into contract on New York City’s Metlife clock tower building for $170 million, with plans to turn it into a hotel. Antonio, whom oversaw the Milano Residences development as project head, says the fast-growing economies of developing countries like the Philippines proves attractive to fashion companies — one reason Missoni signed on for its first residential project in Manila rather than a famed fashion capital like New York, London or Paris.
The Manila real estate market has been bolstered by both local and foreign demand, asserts Antonio. He notes that luxury branded real estate like the Milano Residences and now the Missoni collaboration speak to the foreign buyers market. In addition to the Missoni condos, Century Properties has a number of “branded” projects in the works, most notably a design collaboration underway with Paris Hilton at the Azure condo complex in Manila.
