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Sri Lanka Real Estate Personality of the Year
Altair was awarded four prestigious awards at the recently concluded Asia Property awards (Sri Lanka) by Property Guru. The awards include ‘Best Luxury Condo Development (Colombo)’, ‘Best Luxury Condo Architectural Design’, ‘Best Condo Development (Sri Lanka)’. And Pradeep Moraes, Director, Indocean Developers of Altair was also awarded for the first time ever ‘Sri Lanka Real Estate Personality of the Year’.
The PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards (Sri Lanka) competition, which is being held for the very first time in Colombo on 12 July 2018, has chosen its first-ever Sri Lanka Real Estate Personality of the Year.
Pradeep Moraes, director at Indocean Developers – the company behind the twin tower Altair, designed by celebrated architect Moshe Safdie – has been selected to receive the prestigious honour by the editors of PropertyGuru Property Report magazine.
“We are recognising Pradeep Moraes’s contributions to raise standards in the local real estate sector as well as his work as chairman of the Condominium Developers Association of Sri Lanka,” the magazine said.
The career of Moraes spans more than four decades and covers a wide range of industries, including fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), aviation, advertising, automobiles, industrial marketing, communications and broadcasting, security, and property development.
After 10 years heading the sales and marketing division of John Keells Development, Moraes joined Indocean Developers (Pvt) Ltd as president of sales and marketing in 2013 and was appointed to the board as its sole Sri Lankan director two years later.
One of the biggest and most ambitious projects of his career is Altair, which has been conceptualised to be one of the tallest residential towers in Sri Lanka. The project is up for Best Luxury Condo Development (Colombo) and Best Luxury Condo Architectural Design at the 2018 PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards (Sri Lanka) competition.
Bringing Colombo to the forefront of global architectural excellence
“Euphoric is the best description of how I feel at being chosen as the first Sri Lankan to be bestowed with this award, more so in light of the exalted company of previous winners from the region,” Moraes said of his selection.
“I would like to dedicate this award to the promoters of Altair for giving me the opportunity and the exposure, and for bringing Colombo to the forefront of global architectural excellence with the iconic edifice that is Altair.”
Moraes believes that Sri Lankan real estate has witnessed “vibrant and sustainable growth,” propelled by consistent capital appreciation and rental yields, changing lifestyles of consumers, and confidence shown by foreign investors.
“I would go a step further and also dedicate my award to all the foreign developers, who, with their investments, declared and demonstrated their faith in Sri Lanka’s real estate industry,” he said.
Among elite company
The award puts Pradeep Moraes among the top leaders of the global real estate industry.
Previous winners of this elite award for the Asia Pacific region include former Philippine senate president Manny Villar of Vista Land Group, Thailand’s richest woman Supaluck Umpujh of The Mall Group, American-born Thai magnate William “Bill” E. Heinecke of Minor Hotels, British-Asian billionaire Gulu Lalvani, formerly of Royal Phuket Marina, Indonesian tycoon Candra Ciputra of PT Ciputra Development Tbk, Malaysian entrepreneur Dato’ Seri Abd Wahab Maskan of Sime Darby Property, Myanmar’s top businessman Serge Pun of SPA Group of Companies, Cambodian tycoon Rithy Sear of Worldbridge Cambodia, and Hong Kong’s Dr Allan Zeman, father of Lan Kwai Fong.
Using CSR to promote interracial and inter-religious amity
In addition to Moraes’s work at Altair, he has also pushed to promote corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the country.
Among Altair’s ongoing CSR projects include supporting Gangarama Temple initiatives and providing daily meals for the last four years now to 150 religious inmates and staff of the Little Sisters of the Poor (a home for the aged run by Catholic nuns catering to inmates of any religion). Altair also spearheaded the erection of a Hindu shrine in the heart of Colombo, on land belonging to a Buddhist temple, for interracial and inter-religious amity.
The Sri Lanka Real Estate Personality of the Year award will be presented by PropertyGuru’s chief operating officer Jeremy Williams during an exclusive, black-tie gala dinner on 12 July 2018 at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo ballroom. Sri Lanka’s Megapolis and Western Development Minister Champika Ranawaka has been confirmed to deliver the keynote address.
More than a dozen companies have been shortlisted for the industry’s highest honours to celebrate excellence in the vibrant Sri Lankan real estate sector. Around 300 guests and select members of the press are attending the historic ceremony.