Posted on 07:39 PM, October 10, 2010 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
BY MARITES S. VILLAMOR, Visayas Bureau Chief
CEBU CITY -- SM Prime Holdings, Inc. is accelerating its expansion in Cebu with the construction of a second mall while finalizing plans for a third and scouting for properties for a fourth mall.
SM Prime President Hans T. Sy said “expansion in Cebu is long overdue” as he bared architectural perspectives of the second mall, to be called SM City Consolacion Cebu, at the sidelines of the “Gear and Glam” event here.
Mr. Sy said initial investment in the Consolacion mall would be between P750 million and P800 million. Construction will start before the end of the year, with the mall expected to be completed by the last quarter of 2011.
“This signifies our confidence in Cebu. My only regret is we should have done this much earlier,” Mr. Sy said.
The first SM mall here, SM City Cebu, opened almost 17 years ago although an annex was built in 2007. The four-level SM Cebu is currently the fourth-largest SM mall, with an area for lease of nearly 130,000 square meters (sq. m.).
The two-storey Consolacion mall will be an upscale mall with a gross space for lease of about 40,000 sq. m. and gross floor area of about 57,000 sq. m.
A long-term lease contract for the 47-hectare project site was signed between SM Prime and lot owner Everjust Realty Development Corp. on Friday.
“This will be part of our new design -- new image -- for our malls. It’s going to be upscale,” Mr. Sy added.
The company is also finalizing the design for its third mall that will rise on the 300-hectare South Road Properties (SRP), touted as the new growth center in Cebu.
Mr. Sy said he would unveil next month the details of the mall as well as the master development plan for the company’s 30-hectare property at the SRP, which was acquired in January this year from the Cebu city government for P2.7 billion.
In January, he said the company would spend around P20 billion to put up a mall, a couple of condominium buildings, and at least one hotel at the SRP site. The SRP mall will be bigger than SM Cebu but smaller than the Mall of Asia, currently SM’s biggest.
The company is also looking for a property on which to build its fourth mall in Cebu.
One of the prerequisites is that it has to be located within a five-kilometer radius from SM Cebu, Mr. Sy said. SM Cebu is located at the Cebu north reclamation area, near the port complex and the Mandaue reclamation area.
Meanwhile, an SM Hypermart is expected to open next year as the anchor store of J Mall, a three-hectare shopping center being developed by the Uy family, which also owns fruit processor and exporter Profood International Corp., in Mandaue.
SM also operates malls in Iloilo and Bacolod cities. Nationwide, the company is expected to have 40 malls with a total gross floor area of 4.8 million sq. m. by the end of this year.
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