Posted on 07:31 PM, December 27, 2009 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
CEBU CITY -- Bent on expanding operations in Cebu, SM Prime Holdings, Inc. is negotiating for the acquisition of a property that would be developed into a pocket mall aimed at serving the northern towns of the province.
Marissa N. Fernan, SM Prime senior vice president for the Visayas and Mindanao, said negotiations were in the final stages and a second SM mall in Cebu was expected to open by 2011.
SM Prime is hoping to acquire a property with an abandoned building in Consolacion town, a second-class municipality situated about 12 kilometers north of the city.
"They’re finalizing the terms. This will be smaller, about 35,000 to 55,000 square meters," Ms. Fernan added. The SM City Cebu mall, which is the fourth largest in the SM network, has a total floor area of 130,000 square meters, or 13 hectares.
An SM Hypermart is also expected to open in 2011 as the anchor store of J Mall, a three-hectare mall being developed in Mandaue by the Uy family, who also owns fruit processor Profood International, Inc.
The two new SM outlets will open ahead of the proposed 26-hectare mall at the South Road Properties, the reclaimed property of the Cebu city government in the southern part of the city.
SM Prime has proposed to acquire a 30-hectare lot within the South Road Properties and build a mall that’s twice as big as SM City Cebu as well as an exhibition center, two hotels and a condominium building. The proposal will still be subjected to a Swiss challenge.
Meanwhile, Ms. Fernan said the firm would roll out the "Global Pinoy" program and other special programs in Cebu next year.
Under the Global Pinoy program, a lounge for overseas Filipino workers and their families will be opened at SM City Cebu in January. The lounge will offer free calls, personal finance seminars, and consultations with government agencies Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (OWWA), as well as provide a remittance center.
"SM Cebu pioneered the tribute to OFWs through our annual OFW Day, which was started 10 years ago, in coordination with the OWWA. We were the first mall to recognize the value of OFWs," Ms. Fernan said.
Spending by OFWs and their relatives have helped fuel SM City Cebu’s sales growth, Ms. Fernan said. The Cebu mall is among the top five contributors to SM Prime revenues, she added.
SM has 35 malls nationwide, with Mall of Asia as the largest and the SM North Edsa as the biggest earner. -- Marites S. Villamor
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