SM Prime opens 2nd mall in Cebu

Manila, Philippines -  SM Prime Holdings Inc., the country’s largest mall operator, will start commercial operations of SM City Consolacion in Cebu today.

The firm, controlled by the family of the country’s richest man Henry Sy, said it aims to tap the growing population and improving business climate in the region.

SM City Consolacion, which has a gross floor area (GFA) of 106,857 square meters (sqm), is the second SM mall in the province, the firm said in a disclosure yesterday.

“The region of Cebu remains to be a key expansion area for SM malls,” said SM Prime president Hans T. Sy.

“This reflects our continued confidence in the prospects of Cebu given its dynamic population and flourishing business landscape, especially its vibrant export sector, which contributes significantly to the country’s economic growth.”

SM City Consolacion is SM Prime’s second mall in the province after SM City Cebu, which opened in November 1993.

The new mall has a leasable area of 57,842 sqm, 89 percent of which has already been awarded to various tenants.

Anchor tenants include SM Supermarket and SM Department Store; quick service restaurants Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Mang Inasal; and Cebuano restaurants Chika-an Sa Cebu and Jonie’s Chicken.

Other mall tenants include BDO, Watsons, Ace Hardware, National Bookstore, Ideal Vision, Bench and Penshoppe.

SM Prime said amenities in SM City Consolacion, located along the Cebu North Road, include a cyberzone, a 668-seat food court, four cinemas with a combined seating capacity of 1,488, and parking slots for over 700 vehicles.

Consolacion is a first-class residential urban municipality in the province of Cebu. It is part of the Cebu metropolitan area or Metro Cebu, which is the second international gateway and the second largest urban area in the Philippines. Major industries in the municipality are furniture making, garments, manufacturing, shipbuilding and ship repair.

SM City Consolacion brings the total number of SM Prime malls to 43 nationwide, with a combined GFA of 5.2 million sqm. It is the second SM mall to be opened this year following SM City Olongapo in Zambales that started operations in February.

More expansion is programmed for Cebu province.

Specifically, SM Prime is building a P4.5-billion shopping mall in the reclaimed South Road Properties.

The mall is expected to open in the third quarter of 2014 with a GFA of 241,600 square meters, making it Cebu’s biggest mall and fourth among all SM malls.

“It is part of the 30-hectare mixed-use development project of SM Prime in Cebu called SM Seaside City,” the company said.

For the rest of the year, SM Prime is scheduled to open SM City San Fernando in Pampanga, SM City Lanang in Davao City, SM City Gen. Santos in Southern Mindanao 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.

The firm’s earnings jumped 15 percent in the first quarter to P2.43 billion on the back of higher revenues arising from the addition of new malls and the strong growth of its China operations.