An artist impression of the Ascenda, a residential enclave to be built by Ayala Land around an eco park in Davao City in southern Philippines.Courtesy of Ayala LandAyala Land—controlled by tycoon Jaime Zobel de Ayala and his family’s Ayala Corp.—will invest 10.3 billion pesos ($178 million) to develop a 204-hectare eco-residential estate in Davao City in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.Dubbed Ascenda, the residential estate will be Ayala Land’s biggest mixed-used development outside of the country’s main Luzon Island and its largest investment in Mindanao. Davao is among the country’s fastest-growing cities with its economic growth outpacing the national average, President and CEO Meann Dy said in a statement. “Ascenda is well positioned to benefit from Davao’s momentum,” she said.Danish architectural firm Henning Larsen (known for its work on the Copenhagen Opera House) will design the masterplan for Ascenda, a residential community to be built around an ecological park. Ayala Land’s upscale residential brands will be developed across a sprawling area of 169 hectares, while another 65 hectares has been earmarked for commercial properties. Ayala Land and its rivals SM Prime, the property arm of the Sy family (the nation’s richest clan) and billionaire Andrew Tan’s Megaworld are stepping up developments in the provinces amid an oversupply of residential condominiums in Metro Manila, which property consultants Colliers and Leechiu estimate would take up to eight years to clear.Davao has been on the radar of Ayala Land for decades and the company has developed three projects in the city over the years. “The time has come for us to go full blast here in Davao with our largest estate development ever in the (Visayas-Mindanao) region,” Dy said.Ayala Corp. was started by the great grandfather of Jaime Zodel de Ayala, the family patriarch, in 1834 as a distillery. The Manila-listed company has since expanded into banking, energy, healthcare, logistics, utilities and real estate. With a net worth of $3.4 billion, the family is the seventh richest in the Philippines.MORE FOR YOU