Montilla-López architects unveil 10 projects valued at more than $176 million
Posted: Friday, December 29, 2006 - 03:12 PM
By Gabriel Parra Blessing of Caribbean Business

The architectural, engineering and planning firm Montilla-López has designed 10 condominium projects that together have a sale value of more than $176 million and are due to start construction early next year. Of the 193 units that the 10 projects put together represent, 151 are in the Condado area alone. According to architect Federico Montilla-López, there are another 20 to 30 similar projects in the area that are due to start construction next year, while another 10 have either been recently completed or are due to be completed within a year.

By far the biggest of these projects is a 30-story tower that Montilla-López was reluctant to talk about as it has recently been submitted for construction permit approval by the Regulations & Permits Administration. However, sources indicate it will be part of the $300 million Gallery Plaza project on the northeast corner of De Diego Avenue and Loiza Street. The 1,214-square-meter parcel of land on which this project will be located was sold in June 2005 for $4,870,480 at a price of $4,010 per square meter.

Montilla-López did reveal, however, that the developers are investing more than $50 million in the project, which will include 50 residential units of approximately 2,800 square feet each, with unit price currently undetermined but likely to significantly exceed the $1.2 million nominal amount for most of these projects. The tower will also include approximately 500 parking spaces and about 20,000 square feet of retail and commercial area.

The architect explained that due to the price of land in Condado, which is averaging $4,000 per square meter, and the rising cost of building materials, developers have adopted a floor-area-and-pricing standard for condominiums that amounts to approximately 2,500 square feet and $1.2 million per unit. The $480 per square foot these figures represent is actually in the low range of the $450 to $600 per square foot standard for Condado luxury condominiums indicating the sale price for many of these projects is likely to be significantly higher when they finally go on the market.

Although Montilla-López declined to name specific developers or financing details for these projects because he was not authorized to do so, he assured the bulk of them were due to begin construction during the first half of 2007. Also, sources indicate prominent lawyer & developer Juan Ramón Zalduondo is behind at least one if not more of these projects.

Additional projects include 1112 Magdalena, which will go up on a plot adjacent to the restaurant José José, which is currently being used as its parking lot. The 13-story building will feature one 2,700 square-foot apartment per floor and will average $1.2 million per unit. The 16-story Chateau Louise on the corner of Luisa and Piccioni streets will have 20, 2,500-square-foot apartments valued at approximately $1 million each.

The nine-story Cervantes 11 will have seven, 3,000-square-foot apartments and a 5,000-square-foot, two-story penthouse with prices starting at $1 million. The Portal del Condado, whose unique layout features five, three-story townhouses around a nine-unit tower, will be on the corner of Wilson and Dos Hermanos streets. Both the townhouses and apartment units will be approximately 2,200 square feet each and will sell for between $1 million and $1.2 million.

Meanwhile, the Rodríguez-Serra and Casa Cervantes projects, with nine and seven apartments, respectively, will both feature 2,500-square-foot apartments starting at $1 million each. The nine-story Taft 58 building is a more expansive project, featuring 28, 2,500-square-foot apartments with an average unit price of $1.2 million. All of the aforementioned condominium projects will have either three or four parking spaces available per unit.

Beyond the Condado area, Montilla-López indicated his firm is also working on more affordable projects, including a nine-story, 36-unit apartment building in Santurce on Ponce de León Avenue, a few blocks from the Sagrado Corazón church. The 900-square-foot units will sell for approximately $300,000 each. Also, the six-story Portal de Miramar building on Union Street will feature 10 units valued at approximately $800,000 each.