It was in 2014 that Azure open its door to the public, the project is a collaboration between Century Properties and Paris Hilton where the styling, interiors, palette, furniture, design and theme are all Paris’s ideas. Azure seeks to set a new standard of tropical modern living by taking tropical design as a main factor on their design. Optimal use of natural ventilation, sun shading and lighting are factors determining the masterplan and the building design. The Masterplan was designed by Broadway Malyan, with the buildings and amenities growing organically from the Azure beach.
There are 4 buildings currently occupied in Azure and 5 more buildings under construction. Each building is named after the best beaches in the world; Rio, Santorini, St. Tropez, Positano and Boracay to name a few. Each building has its own rooftop garden that has a breath taking view of Makati-Manila Skyline and overlooks Laguna de Bay and Manila Bay.
The other than the man-made beach, the complex has a beach club named after Paris Hilton, which houses a world class gym which is bigger than the know hotel gyms in manila, function rooms, spa, restaurant, al fresco dining, movie rooms and game rooms. It also has a lap pool where swimmers usually rent to train, a basketball court and a beach volleyball court.
I can attest that this residential complex is one of the best that money can buy and all the amenities and design concept mentioned were really taken into consideration. However, recent reports of visitors started that they didn’t enjoy the place or some even dubbed it as the “Pansol of Bicutan” (term for cheap public resort in Los Baños Laguna). As a resident, this causes ache because the investment you put into is being dubbed as such and the money you put into it is definitely something you cannot compare to Pansol.
Is it really a wrong investment or is it a bad design or bad management?
At around late 2015 that Azure started transforming units not yet sold into “condotels ”. When I first heard it I know that problems will arise for both the guests and the unit owners. True enough that “sharing” the amenities became an issue between the unit owners and the guests, it is not because the residents are selfish people but the dues paid for the amenities are expensive and the guests use these areas almost for free.
Bad management is what I can think of is the reason for all this things and comments on the place. The carrying capacity of the place cannot accommodate the plethora of guests. The area is maintained and managed but it is not enough if they want to have the number of people using the space. Filipinos in general forget that maintenance is important. It does not end after punch listing or after the guarantee bond of the contractor, it is primarily the responsibility of the owner to properly maintain either through an in-house housekeeping or a hired property managing agency.
I would honestly say that the first 4 buildings built look like they have been used for 10 years with the exterior paint peeling, rust stains and white paint looking greyish , backyard gardens of unoccupied units untrimmed and landscape plants drying.
The washrooms although clean and well-designed usually needs repair especially the door stoppers and locks. I personally refrain myself from going to the beach for the past months because of the large crowd and lack of maintenance in the beach club shower areas. The shower areas used to smell like those beautiful bath bombs from lush and you can even lie down on the floor because of the cleanliness but now the shower areas smell like chlorine and I need to wait for a long time before people vacate the shower stalls and locker units.
Furniture outside also suffer from lack of maintenance. Some of the outdoor showers are not working. They have this white box like cushioned chairs that were really urban and chic but most of their cushions now were removed or got destroyed. The steps used to have carbonium strips (anti slip strips) but these were not maintained well so you can see most of them torn. I also heard stories of guests and unit owners having problems with their corridors and garbage shoots. The last time I used the pool I also noticed that the tiles are extra slippery meaning that algae are forming on the pool flooring.
The opening of the next 5 buildings is near and the number of people using the complex will increase but I think before this problem turn into full blown disaster for everyone, the management should develop and 5-10 year development plan and include the residents on the planning stage. I also think that they need to think through their “condotel ” concept and be realistic about the capacity of the complex. I believe that they follow the code, graphic standands and other reference materials but they should know that most of these references provide the minimum dimensions that are borderline acceptable.
An example of this was when they announced that the carrying capacity of the beach is 1000 people but I don’t think that it is pertains to the people swimming around instead it is the number of people standing side-by side the pool floor without the water.
Lastly, I know that everything means business for a real estate project and profit is the first thing in this business, but the opportunity that good design and amenities that the project has and the satisfaction of the residents are as equally as important with the profit that the business gain and this is also part of the return of investment that the owners want from the company.
