By Zinnia B. Dela Peña (The Philippine Star) Updated February 10, 2012 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - SM Prime Holdings Inc. will open today SM City Olongapo, its 42nd mall in the country and its very first in the province of Zambales.
In a statement, SM Prime said the new mall, which stands on a 9,259-square meter property, has a leasable area of 22,462 sqm, 81 percent of which has already been awarded to various tenants.
“The opening of SM City Olongapo is doubly significant for SM Prime, as it is the company’s first shopping mall to be opened this year and it is also the very first SM mall in Zambales province. As we warmly welcome everyone to our newest mall, we assure them of the same first-rate, affordable product and service offerings that are enjoyed by millions of loyal shoppers and customers in all SM malls throughout the country,” SM Prime president Hans T. Sy said.
Olongapo City, a highly urbanized area in Zambales, is located right next to the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, a former US naval base that is now a major industrial, tourism and logistics hub.
With the addition of SM City Olongapo, SM Prime now has a combined gross floor area of over five million sqm.
For the rest of 2012, SM Prime is slated to open SM City Lanang in Davao City, SM City Gen. Santos in Southern Mindanao, SM City Consolacion in Cebu, SM City San Fernando in Pampanga and SM Chongqing in China.
By the end of this year, SM Prime will have 46 malls in the Philippines and five in China with an estimated combined GFA of 6.3 million sqm.
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