As it marks its 12th anniversary this year, real estate brokerage firm Prime Philippines said the boom in e-commerce and business process outsourcing (BPO) played a major role in its survival and expansion.
During its recent media briefing on the sidelines of anniversary celebration at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong City, Prime Philippines founder Jet Yu said the company has facilitated P38 billion in total transaction volume to date.
“We started in 2013 with just one employee and one intern. Prime Philippines has now grown into a commercial real estate powerhouse with nearly 100 full-time professionals across offices in Manila, Cebu, and Davao. We have completed over 300 projects and more than 7,000 clients served,” said Yu, who was only 23 when he founded the company.
Yu recalled that when the world came to a halt during the pandemic, the Philippines saw an unexpected boom in e-commerce.
“With people locked in their homes and businesses scrambling to pivot online, demand for storage, sorting, and distribution spaces surged overnight. In this moment of crisis, Prime stepped up not just to provide space, but to deliver purpose-built infrastructure that kept commerce alive,” he said.
“From sprawling fulfillment hubs to last-mile delivery centers, the company matched speed with scale, quickly becoming a trusted partner to the country’s e-commerce giants.”
The executive said one of Prime’s most impactful contributions is the build-to-suit (BTS) warehouse developments, which are custom-built spaces designed around a tenant’s exact specifications.
“These are not mere lease transactions; they are long-haul journeys that begin with understanding a client’s operational DNA, scouting the perfect site, navigating technical requirements, and hammering out lease agreements all within a rigorous 12 to 15-month timeframe. Each successful BTS project is a testament to the team’s discipline, collaboration, and end-to-end expertise,” he said.
Over the past 12 years, the company’s office leasing department played a key role in helping both local and international companies expand across the country.
With over 600,000 square meters of office space transacted, the firm has demonstrated consistent performance across complex and high-volume transactions. A substantial portion of these deals involved BPO firms and government agencies.
On the multinational front, Prime has enabled strategic expansion for global players like Concentrix, which successfully implemented a hub-and-spoke office model in an emerging city, and IBM, which secured new space to accommodate its growing Philippine operations.
“These partnerships demonstrate not only Prime’s credibility among global companies but also its ability to deliver local insight at scale helping firms unlock access to highly competent Filipino talent across the country,” the company said.
From its early advocacy in 2013 for office expansions in Quezon City — then an unconventional location for business hubs but home to a dense pool of employable talent — to its bold move into Davao City in 2017, the firm has always prioritized fundamentals and potential over convention.
Yu said Prime entered Davao before it became a national focal point under the Duterte administration, doing so starting from scratch without any local connections.
“From our humble beginnings, Prime has grown by staying ahead of the curve and constantly reimagining what’s possible in the real estate space,” said Yu. “Our success is grounded in the synergy between seasoned industry experts and the bold energy of our younger professionals.”
