SM opens 18th mall in Dasmariñas, Cavite

Shopping mall giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. has opened its 18th Supermall – SM City Dasmariñas in Cavite —— as part-of the two-store openings planned this year.

SM Prime said the new mall, which has a gross floor area of 80,000 square meters, is already 80 percent lease-awarded with 243 tenants. The three-story mall will cater to residents of central and southern Cavite, the country’s fastest-growing province by population.

Also set to open in the fourth quarter this year is SM City Batangas, which will have a gross floor area of 71,000 sqm of shopping, dining and entertainment for residents of the southern city and its neighboring areas.

With the opening of these malls, SM Prime will own 19 operational shopping centers across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao with total gross floor area totaling 2.5 million sqm.

For 2005, three more malls are scheduled to open.

These are SM City San Lazaro (Manila), SM City Molino (Cavite) and the first phase of the SM Mall of Asia, which shall comprise a main mall and entertainment mall and two parking buildings.

The SM Mall of Asia is now under construction and is envisioned to be the country’s premier shopping destination and tourist attraction, revitalizing the Roxas Blvd. bay area.

This year, SM Prime has earmarked P5 billion for the construction of new malls and acquisition of real estate properties for future expansion.

With a total land bank of 173 hectares in prime locations, SM Prime is set for continuous expansion within the next five years. The company expects that by 2005 its total gross floor area will reach 2.8 million sqm.

The company has reported an eight percent increase in its first quarter net income this year to P1.2 billion from P1.1 billion in the same period a year ago, driven by higher sales from leasing operations.

Gross revenues rose 14 percent to P2.3 billion from only P2 billion the previous level, with rental revenues fuelling the growth.

Rental revenues jumped by 16 percent to P1.8 billion compared with P1.5 billion a year earlier. This was largely due to additional rentals from three new malls that opened in the last quarter of 2003, namely SM City Lucena, SM City Baguio and SM City Marilao, which all hold a 90 percent occupancy rate.