The Henry Resort Dumaguete is the newest lifestyle and destination haven in Negros Oriental. It is the former South Sea Resort, an old institution in Dumaguete City.
Property owner Jaime Ponce de Leon is certain that every person who grew up in Dumaguete has his or her own memories of the landmark that was South Sea Resort.
“Perhaps, this is just a passing of the torch from the old to the new — an infusion of new blood to match the requirements and necessities of a new generation,” he said.
He purchased the property in 2016, with the help of Arnold Antonio and his cousin Terri Villegas who sealed the deal.
“I was looking at a potential and I was most aware of its historical value considering that every one of us has truly attended a wedding, a debut, graduation or whatever kind of party here, being this place as the place to be,” he said.
It was the nostalgia and the goodwill that was attached to the property that urged him to find a way to acquire it. “It surely was not easy, especially that I was relatively new in my business in Manila,” Ponce de Leon said.
After sealing the deal, he got in touch with Eric Paras, his favorite interior designer in Manila whose foundations as a designer has a lot to do with art, to conceptualize a plan to make the property synonymous with Paras’ aesthetic.
“We started with one villa and then I told him (Paras) that I do not know how to run a hotel,” Ponce de Leon said, so Paras introduced him to Hanky Lee of The Henry Group.
Lee assured Ponce de Leon that all the headaches will be theirs and he will just sit back.
“And so that was done. So, we started to have direction and then I called an old friend, the esteemed landscaper and furniture expert Allan Tan, whom I always say is Manila’s best kept secret, to make the landscaping and garden we see today,” Ponce de Leon said.
“We were interrupted by the pandemic, but we persisted. We had to do the project through remote control as I am based in Manila as well as everyone else involved,” he related.
While there were numerous setbacks and countless challenges to get to where they are now, he said all these were part of making their story great.
Born and bred in Dumaguete, he said, “It will be my resolve and I enjoin The Henry Group to strive and continue to make this beautiful place by the sea as beguiling and as splendid as it can be.”
Together with their partners, Ponce de Leon said they will endeavor to serve the Dumaguete community with the kind of hospitality that will make the property as unique as possible.
