To open on september 2015 SM Seaside Complex construction on track

CEBU, Philippines - With construction schedule on track, the SM Seaside Complex located at the South Road Properties, which is now 30 percent completed is set to open on September 2015.

“The project brings a lot of excitement to local and international tenants,” said SM Prime Holdings vice president for Visayas and Mindanao Marissa Fernan.

According to Fernan her team is talking with several retailers and brand groups such as Marks & Spencer Group, Bench Group, and a lot more.

Regarded as the one of the world’s largest shopping malls, the interest of potential tenants towards SM Seaside Complex in “unprecedented”, Fernan said.

Fernan mentioned the distinct component of the mall that supports the growing creative sector in Cebu, the hosting of proliferation of public art done by Cebuanos at the shopping mall’s Sky Garden area.

The mall “SM Seaside City Cebu” will be one of the first developments in the master plan of SM Properties, which stretches from the northern part of the SRP to the sea.

Designed by Arquitectonica, an international architecture, interior design and planning firm from Miami Florida, the grand, first-of-its-kind urban development at the SRP will dramatically change the landscape of the City with its nautilus-inspired design of expanding, concentric arcs from a central multi-purpose space.

The SM Seaside City Cebu will be a 4-level, circular-shaped, world-class retail mall with multiple anchors, including a two-story SM Department Store and SM Hypermart, a five-theater Cineplex and IMAX Theatre, an 18-lane SM Bowling and Amusement Center, and a food court flanking an ice skating rink.

In addition, the mall will have over 800 food and retail shops, including international brands. Retail shops will occupy the outer arc of the mall on the ground floor. This area will include a furniture zone as well as a fashion boulevard to showcase the talent of Cebu’s many local designers.

The introduction of the SM Seaside City Cebu promises to revolutionize the malling experience not only in Cebu but in the whole country’s south.

A 150 meters Iconic Viewing Tower will be an attraction in itself, offering sensational panoramic views of the entire city of Cebu while serving as a new landmark for the City.

The company is allocating a capital expenditure (capex) of P60 billion in the next three years in the Philippines for its shopping centers construction projects. Aside from its aggressive expansion move in Cebu, the company is also spending to open up new shopping malls in other provinces.

Significantly, with the jitters of recent natural calamities, being located at the sea-front, Fernan assured that SM Prime Holding’s President Han Sy’s serious commitment to build a disaster-resilient project.

Sy’s position as the Philippine representative of the UN Disaster Preparedness Commission strengthens the Group’s commitment to build disaster-resilient projects in the country.

Meanwhile, Fernan announced that the company is now talking with different bus operators to provide public transportation service going to the new and largest shopping mall to open in Cebu next year.

In an earlier interview with Sy, he said that the company has made adjustments to its destination mall project at SRP, in terms of budget allocation to P8.5 billion, from the original budget of P6 billion.

According to Sy, while the company is building not only a shopping mall facility, but a “destination mall”, that every Cebuano should be proud of, the company’s management decided to make it Cebu’s newest landmark, making it the fourth biggest mall in the world.

“We have to build it right. It will be an attraction,” said Sy adding that the mall will be built on a four-story building, of which total space area will reach to 409,000 square-meters similar to the size of the Mall of Asia in Manila. /JOB (FREEMAN)