Of all places, the city is my first love. I was born and raised in its restlessness and risky. But it has not been an ideal first love, so much so that lately, I have actually been envisioning the possibility of one day settling with my future family on an island, or maybe on a farm near a seashore, writing there and just taking the occasional trips to the city whenever I would miss the insanity of urbanity.
But my trip inside the exclusive grounds of the Bay Garden Club and Residences is one of those experiences which makes me re-think all my doubts about modern city living. I was exposed to the upscale and luxury that Federal Land, the Metrobank Group’s real estate arm, are laying down for their aspiring homeowners. Would I want to own a home in it? Will that make it worth it to stay put in the city? The Bay Garden development seems to suggest that it depends on my definition of home. The homes they have designed, grand re-definitions of city living, are obviously worth possessing only by those who acknowledge that they deserve.
Of course I deserve, I thought, I deserve the best. So throughout my tour, I tried to subject the new Bay Garden suites to a scrutiny tinted by my I’d-rather-beach-bum and I-give-up-on-the-city biases. Let’s see how Bay Garden fared.
A dream address
One of the many features that Bay Garden Club and Residences takes pride of is its privileged location. Bay Garden has set its foundations in Pasay City, bordered by Diosdado Macapagal Avenue and EDSA extension. Since the city is at a central area in Metro Manila, the Philippine capital, this assures the Bay Garden resident of a strategic course through any point of the metropolis.
As a wannabe homemaker, this location factor is of utmost concern to me. Access to the business city of Makati, and the arts and culture spots along Roxas Boulevard, may take no more than a neighborly drive. The concert and music geek in me, as well as the geeks I’d surely be bearing, are assured of nourishment at the arts center of the country which would be just a few corners away. Movie dates and bookhuntings with the husband will also be easy to set up, given the proximity of Bay Garden Club and Residences to Greenbelt and the SM Mall of Asia, two of the Philippines’ largest and high-end shopping and dining centers. And should the hubby and me feel extra romantic, the Roxas Boulevard strip is also lined with five-star hotels for our every fancy. That’s family bonding right there, given a subtle boost.
As for my love for the sea and the setting sun, Bay Garden Club and Residences would not be true to its name if it did not offer views of Manila Bay’s world-famous sunsets. Each of its towers-on-the-rise is situated in angles that assure that most of the suites get a daily view of what has been called the most beautiful sunset in the world. Could this be the clincher? If I could see sunsets from my high-rise home’s veranda while fixed at the sight of the sparkling Manila Bay below, I may no longer need to explore the charming city, let alone leave my unit. This would be a shame because there is so much more of Bay Gardens to explore.
Four families, four homes
Bay Garden Club and Residences previews four units which suits four family lifestyles – that of the singleton or starting couple, a small family with grown kids, a power couple, and the young family of four. The presentations are based on the designs of one of the country’s top interior designers, Grace M. Milan, and Federal Land’s own in-house team of artists. Actually, I can imagine myself living in all four suites, but the one for the mom-dad-two-kids set-up is my favorite. So let’s go inside that favorite unit first, the one which I could take as my home, before we check out the neighbors’.
Units for the Modern Family
Called the Casual Attitude suite, this 103 square meter space is a bi-level two-bedroom unit aimed for the market segment which is profiled by Federal Land as hard workers who want to live near the office. It is the home for the starting family. It wasn’t difficult at all envisioning it as my haven with the husband who would probably hold office in the city. And its two-storey structure made me instantly imagine my two toddlers running up and down the stairs. Since the preview has set up the top of the stairs as a study nook complete with a miniature study desk and blackboard, I thought my eldest could be doing his homework there. Meanwhile, my younger one could be playing house underneath the stairs, spacious enough and well-lit to be a kid’s den. Then they’d scuttle across the floor’s and stairs’ soft-tone wooden finish at the arrival of their father. I’d be in the kitchen, preparing dinner on my granite counter. The scent of dinner would mix with the sound of the laughter of my family, and the charged air would bounce from wall-to-glossy-wall in the hues of aqua, vanilla and mocha.
Yes, it would bounce off the ceilings too, which are of painted gypsum board and rubbed concrete with a flat finish. The Federal Land official release actually states that the ceiling itself can make “an interesting conversation piece”. That’s likely, when me and the hubby would have run out of what to talk about in our pretty home, lying down upstairs in the master bedroom, surrounded by ceiling-to-floor glass windows, and just a few paces away from the children already asleep in the next bedroom – and this may be the appropriate point to visit the would-be neighbors’ suites, before my dream segues somewhere else.
A two-bedroom corner unit of 66 square meters, previewed under the design concept Rhapsody in Black and White, has the small family with grown kids in mind. Federal Land describes it as “fit for the family who lives in the fast lane”. With a master bedroom already a considerable size, its other bedroom is still large enough to accommodate two large beds for kids in their teens, perhaps, or for grown-up children who stay over only once in a while. Glass surfaces all throughout create a more spacious look, complementing the white walls and ceilings with accents of black and purple. This suite could be the domain of neighbors that my family would probably rarely see or hear from, given their highly active lifestyle.
The third suite is Warm Modernism, standing at 131 square meters, with three bedrooms. Actually, there are three grand bedrooms in this suite, but a bedroom right next to the living room could be set up in such a way that it can function as a den. It is decked with shelves and is next to a wide glass window paneling. It also has a nook which can accommodate a desk. Sliding glass panels on its open edges can be drawn to seclude the space. Thus, the versatility of it being an office space or library, a guest bedroom, or an extension of the living room, all in one. And this, I believe, is the tour de force feature of this suite and what makes it unique. This multi-functional space, when used as a living room extension, also renders the suite suitable for cocktail parties, which the elderly power couple owning it could hold from time to time. Too whimsical? I don’t think so, because such party nights are proven feasible by a powder room that actually stands right next to the suite’s entrance. The makers had the parties in mind. Put a rack in that powder room and it can also be a coatroom for the guests. And I and the mister could be guests ourselves in one of that suite’s parties – either browsing through the books at the open den’s built-in library, or going through the liquor at the bar by the dining hall. On such party nights, our power couple neighbors’ home would probably look like a warm hub from the balcony, pulsating with activity within the suite’s walls in champagne and latte tones.
The last suite is the one-bedroom Easy Living suite, designed for the yet-to-expect couple, perhaps newlyweds. I was told by my Federal Land guides that most single men who have stepped into the suite actually almost identically exclaimed “This is mine!”, thus the suite’s other moniker, the bachelor suite. At 64.45 square meters, it also incorporates a pocket garden apart from the standard kitchen/dining space and bathroom present in all suites. The earthy feel from the suite’s sepia, brown and copper tones may also be one of the reasons for the suite’s masculine vibe. What then about Federal Land’s pitching of it as also for starting couples? I guess that just naturally follows with its suitability as a bachelor pad – one day, I would just probably hear that our yuppie male neighbor had already married the girlfriend that I may have seen in his pocket garden from my own suite.
All in the neighborhood
Within the towers, commercial and retail shops will be set up at the ground floor. A gym and spa is also in the works. There will be a multi-purpose indoor game room. There will be a function room where further partying can be done, perhaps by the elderly power couple suite owners, should they have guests more than what their Warm Modernism home could hold. For the kids, there will be a day care center. And yet again, for the geeky homemaker and her fellow readers, there will be a library and reading lounge.
At the common, elevated base of the three planned towers, a lay-out has been drawn for a recreation center which will be called The Great Outdoors. Federal Land commissioned another leading Filipino landscape architect, Paulo G. Alcazaren, to design the center. It will hold a swimming pool which looks like an infinity pool with the way it will be positioned at the rim of the common, elevated base. Nearby, there will be an outdoor children’s playground, complete with sandboxes. For those who prefer tranquility, there will be a yoga and meditation center. For refreshments, a bar and grill area will also be constructed. Outdoor living rooms will be strategically set-up all around the center. And all of that will be within a landscaped garden, since this amenities area is actually envisioned by Federal Land as a resort, complete with palm trees and flowering bushes.
I can imagine frequenting the gym and spa, and yoga and meditation center. I would every once in a while take my toddlers to the sandboxes. Hubby would probably have a blast chit-chatting about business with other husbands at the grill station. After playtime, we may still find time to pass by the library to borrow books for myself or the kids, or pass by one of the planned food shops inside the towers for evening snacks.
Bay Garden Club and Residences wrapped up my day dreams with another lay-out of its exterior planned community. All on the vast land surrounding Bay Garden, the Metrobank group is developing a healthcare facility, the Manila GT Medical Center. In fact, there already is a school within the Metropolitan Park, the Manila Doctors’ College, a neighborhood arcade with shopping, dining and concert center called the Blue Wave Mall. Upon completion, this complex would be a city in itself, south of Manila.
A city within a city, which may even be better because inside the Federal Land city, only comfort, luxury, safety and peace will be encountered by the roamer. The makers of Bay Garden Club and Residences sure know how to pin down the home hunter. Should I fall for that too, there may really be no escaping-the-city for me. At least not for good. |