Friday 27 September 2013

My front door was an elevator

This post is sponsored by Avida Land, an Ayala Land company.


I grew up in a building. Back then it was gray and white. Now the façade is a pale green, a dubious color in my mind. It stands 8 stories high, tiny by today’s standards and has a 2-level basement where I learned to ride my skateboard down its ramps when no cars were passing through.

We were walled-in by offices inside buildings much higher than our own. Full of busy people doing busy things. But at night, the city became quiet. The people who came here during the day to work and eat retreated back into their cars and drove away. Night returned the city to the people who call this home. This was Makati in the 80s.

Now the buildings are higher and reach for greater things. The people here move faster too. I don’t live in that building anymore, I live in a house, which was very weird the first time I moved. I always came home to an elevator. Or 7 flights of stairs, if it was out-of-order that day. That elevator was my front door. I loved it. It had buttons that lit up. It always started shakily and with a jolt before it started moving. And you always prayed it would get you to your proper floor because sometimes it just did as it pleased and we became passengers in the truest sense. That elevator gave me nightmares but I remember everything about it now only with fondness.

I loved living in the city. I had a park and streets that cracked in the summer and pooled water like dots when it rained. I could walk to the mall and order popcorn at the movie theater. The sound of cars at night was like a reassuring hum that I was never alone. Architecture was everywhere. Masterpieces that rose to the sky or crawled above the tree tops in cement and steel. The city was always moving, always changing. It felt like we were growing up together. Accelerating. Leaving the rest of the world behind. At least in my mind.

A big reason I think why it’s easy to love my city is because of the work and development of Ayala Properties and Land. Because lets face it, they pretty much built everything you see in Makati. In that regard, I am grateful to them for having great foresight into city planning.

And I’m glad to know that now they’re developing a new CBD in the North. They’re calling it Vertis North and you’ll find it in the heart of Quezon City. This is a 30-hectare masterplanned city within a city, complete with its own storm water management system.

Tower 1 & 2 of Avida Towers Vita

This is also where Ayala Land is putting up their residential development called Avida Towers Vita.

Ayala Land
It all starts here.

Ayala Land


It caters to young professionals and for families wanting to own their very first home. They have studio units, 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom units.

Ayala Land
The great lawn.


Size Ranges per unit:

Studio -                   20.87 sqm - 28.16 sqm
1BR -                      34.80- sqm - 44.49 sqm
2BR -                      56.36 sqm - 71.56 sqm


Ayala Land
Floor plan and unit layout

Ayala Land
The retail and commercial area.

All the amenities you can expect from an Ayala Land development, you’ll find here. Round the clock security, a pool area, garden area, fitness and exercise area, a clubhouse for events, a play area for the kids, plus retail and dining areas for all the conveniences we now can’t live without.

Ayala Land
Pool area and playground.
It also has a great location and puts you near where you need to be.

Ayala Land
Layout of Vertis North
Ayala Land


Even though I’m not from QC and have never lived there, it kind of puts a smile on my face knowing that one day, some kid will live at Avida Towers Vita and come home to his front door, push a button, watch it light up, and take him up to reach for greater things.  And he’ll love his city in a way that I love mine.



Find Avida Land on:
Facebook: AvidaLandCorp
Twitter and Instagram: @avidalandph



An Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) subsidiary, Avida Land provides thoughtfully-designed yet affordable homes in secure communities that offer value for money and convenience all within reach. With the five pillars of accessibility, unique features and amenities, quality assurance, stress free buying, and relaxing living experience integrated in all its condominium and house and lot properties, Avida Land has become the developer of choice among the rising middle class as it continues to expand its product offerings across the country. For more information on Avida Towers Vita or any Avida condominium in the Philippines, call (+632) 8485200 or visit http://www.avidaland.com.

2 comments:

  1. love your post, mark. Made me want to seriously move to a condominium.

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    Replies
    1. thanks tiff! I do miss living in a condo sometimes. :)

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