Monthly Archive:
August2014
Altair, the architecturally-unique, 400-apartment twin-tower high-rise condominium at Sir James Peiris Mawatha, Colombo 2, opened its ‘Show Apartments’ at the site recently, with a simple religious ceremony attended by the Directors of the promoting company Indocean Developers and representatives of contracted companies and business partners.
Designed by the globally-recognised celebrity architect Moshe Safdie, Altair comprises of two tower blocks, one of which leans in to the other.
The taller of the two towers will rise to 68 stories and both towers will offer residents spectacular views of the Beira Lake, the Indian Ocean, the city of Colombo or a silhouette of the central hills.
This luxury residential project is scheduled for completion in 2017.
Altair, the iconic twin-tower high-rise luxury condominium development that will dramatically transform Colombo’s skyline over the next three years, recently extended its marketing efforts to the large Sri Lankan community living in Australia.
The annual Old Thomian’s dance held this year at the historic St. Kilda’s Hall, was supported by Altair as a corporate sponsor. Designed by the international celebrity architect Moshe Safdie, the Altair twin tower under construction on Colombo’s Beira Lake waterfront is scheduled for completion in 2017. Headed to be the most demanded Residential Properties in Sri Lanka.
Altair, the architecturally-unique, 400-apartment twin-tower high-rise condominium at Sir James Peiris Mawatha, Colombo 2, opened its ‘Show Apartments’ at the site at the beginning of August.
To celebrate this iconic event Altair hosted a cocktail party inviting Colombo’s elite over the course of 4-days to display the Show apartments in all its glory.
Designed by the globally-recognised celebrity architect Moshe Safdie, Altair comprises of two tower blocks, one of which leans in to the other.The taller of the two towers will rise to 68 stories and both towers will offer residents spectacular views of the Beira Lake, the Indian Ocean, the city of Colombo or a silhouette of the central hills.This luxury residential project is scheduled for completion in 2017, one if its kind luxury condominiums in Colombo.
Indocean Developers Ltd., the promoter of the iconic Altair twin tower condominium development in Colombo, has announced the appointment of Pradeep Moraes and K.M. Sathian as Directors of the company with immediate effect.
The two appointees are already closely involved with the ongoing luxury residential project in senior executive capacities, Moraes as President Sales and Marketing, and Sathian as President Projects.
Moraes joined Indocean Developers after 10 years as Head of Sales and Marketing in the property group of John Keells Holdings through its subsidiaries Asian Hotels & Properties PLC, John Keells Residential Properties Ltd., and British Overseas Ltd., in which capacity he headed a team that sold over 750 high-end luxury apartments.
Educated at St. Benedict’s College, Colombo, and at Aquinas University College, he began his corporate life in the commercial aviation sector, working for Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Gulf Air and Air Lanka. He subsequently went into Brand Management in the FMCG sector, and general management and marketing with CEO responsibility, for several leading entities in spheres such as air freight, industrial marketing, advertising, automobiles, home entertainment, security, motor racing, broadcasting and telecommunications.
Sathian is a Civil Engineer with over 28 years of experience in the fields of engineering, procurement and construction of high-rise buildings, large residential and commercial townships, airports, hospitals and sports stadiums. He has accumulated more than 16 years of experience in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with reputed companies such as Philipp Holzmann AG, WS Atkins, GHD Global Ltd. and East Consulting Engineering Centre.
In the seven years preceding his appointment with Altair, Sathian was the Project Head for the ‘Urbana’ township development, at 12 high-rise residential towers of 40 to 60 storeys each and 51 bungalows with all amenities spread over 65 acres of land, the single most significant development in Eastern India.
Altair is intended to be a one-of-its-kind development in South Asia in terms of architectural design, structural engineering, and living experience. It is projected to be a game changer in contemporary living that will bring a new dimension in aesthetics to Colombo’s skyline.
Comprising of two tower blocks, one of 63 storeys which leans into a taller, 68-storey tower, Altair, located at Sir James Peiris Mawatha, Colombo 2 (the former Colombo Commercial Co. property), will offer its 400 apartments spectacular views of the Beira Lake, the Indian Ocean and the city of Colombo. Designed by the globally-recognised celebrity architect Moshe Safdie, the development’s 1.5 million square feet of high-end eco-friendly living space, will be supported by 40,000 square feet of supportive up-market retail space. Altair residences is scheduled for completion in 2017.
Indocean is a joint venture of the six conglomerates that makes up the South City Group, which brings together over 150 years of cumulative development experience. One partner alone has a market capitalisation in excess of $ 2 billion, and the constituent partners of the Group have completed 50 million square feet of real estate development and currently have another 20 million square feet of space under construction.
The Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2014 kicked off in Colombo on the 5th of August with 450 participants, including public and private sector decision makers, policy experts, economists, Central Bankers, academics and politicians among many others taking part.
The flagship annual event of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce saw a series of renowned speakers taking the stage to share their thoughts on a number of important topics during the two-day event, which was held under the title ‘Sri Lanka 2020 – Towards Surpassing the $ 7,000 Per Capita’.Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera and Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal set the stage for the two days of intense discussion and debate to take place, speaking on the lines of ‘National Vision: Policy Implementation Perspective’.
Naina Lal Kidwai, Head of HSBC India, Alpesh Shah, a Senior Partner and Managing Director in the Mumbai office of The Boston Consulting Group, Lulu Raghavan, Managing Director, Landor Associates of Mumbai Office and Rizvi Zaheed, Managing Director of Hayleys Agriculture Holdings will also deliver key note speeches under different sessions.
Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe too would be among the keynote speakers and will share his thinking under the title ‘Education – Critical Driver of Competitive Advantage’.
The forum’s eight sessions will cover topics such as Policy Implementation, Branding, Banking in the New World, Education, Integrating Development, Rise of Asia as a Trading Bloc and Vision for Sri Lanka 2020, etc.
“The theme of the Summit this year, ‘Sri Lanka 2020 – Towards Surpassing the $ 7,000 Per Capita,’ is most relevant in the current context of the country’s development strategies and looks to the growth projections for the future that are most encouraging. It also merges well with the development goals of ‘Mahinda Chinthana,’ the policy framework of this Government,” said President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a congratulatory message sent to the Faculty book of Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2014.
The Summit included a CEOs session with some of the top minds of the local corporate sector sitting down to discuss the, conduciveness of the country’s business environment to innovation and growth.
Among those executives are Ajith Gunewardene, Deputy Chairman of the John Keells Holdings PLC; Ashok Pathirage, Chairman, Softlogic Holdings PLC; Dhammika Perera, Chairman, Sampath Bank PLC; Ashroff Omar, CEO, Brandix Lanka Ltd.; and Dr. Hans Wijesuriya, Group CEO of Dialog Axiata PLC.
For the first time in the summit’s history, five of Sri Lanka’s emerging corporate leaders were lined up to discuss the nation’s future, under the title ‘Our Vision for Sri Lanka 2020’.
Emerging corporate leaders such as Shyam Sathasivam of Sunshine Lanka Healthcare (formerly Swiss Biogenics Ltd.), Jeevan Gnanam, Director of SAKS, Harsha Purasinghe, CEO of Microimage Ltd. and Samadanie Kiriwandeniya, Chairperson of SANASA Development Bank, will comprise this panel.
High calibre personalities will take part as the moderators of the eight sessions of the Sri Lanka Economic Summit.
Carson Cumberbatch PLC, CIC Holdings, Dialog Axiata, Walkers, CML – MTD, First Capital, Commercial Bank, Altair, York Street Partners, AIA, Access Engineering, Cinnamon Grand and OMD have partnered with the Ceylon Chamber to make this event a success.
Ivan Robinson of Lanka Real Estate notes:
With the announcement of the draft ‘Restrictions on Alienation of Land Bill’ having been passed in Parliament on the 20th of this month, the real estate sector in Sri Lanka is now set on the right foot to attract FDI in this specific field. After two years of uncertainty in this sector we now have a clear cut law that states that the previous 100% tax due on property purchases by foreigners is no longer applicable. The new law also states that a foreigner can now hold 49% shareholding of a company that buys land, which is up from the previous 25%, the balance 51% has to be held by a Sri Lankan nominee. After 20 years, this same company then gains the same rights as a Sri Lankan individual and can buy freehold land unconditionally. Also, a foreigner can lease property for 99 years by paying a one off tax of 15% based on the value of the lease.
This new law paves the way forward for a clear and transparent solution for foreigners, individuals or corporations, to invest in the Sri Lankan Real Estate market.
Hardy Jamaldeen, manager and director of Steradian Capital since 2010 is also bullish on real estate:
Along with the current growth trajectory many opportunities are continuously arising in the SriLankan Real Estate environment. The most exciting is the foreseeable demand for long-term income producing assets. Land and buildings can bridge this gap in the form of offices, industrial estates, shopping centers, student accommodation and hotels. Structuring these assets into bite sizes that the market can absorb will be the key to its success.
Read full article here.