Sy-led SM to spend P1.4-B for Bacolod mall

MANILA, Philippines – Henry Sy-led SM Prime Holdings, Inc. announced a P1.4-billion 2-year expansion program for its Bacolod shopping mall.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, April 3, the mall developer said it will increase SM City Bacolod’s total gross floor area (GFA) to 171,380 square meters.

By building the SM City Bacolod Annex, 102,043 square meters of GFA will be added to the main mall. Of this, 81,204 square meters will be leased out.   

Construction and other works will start this 2012 and run until 2014. This project is expected to provide employment for an estimated 2,000 people.

“This expansion clearly manifests SM Prime’s steadfast commitment to assist in the further development and progress of the city through increased tax payments to the local government, as well as by providing residents an improved destination mall and a highly viable venue for business and commerce,” SM Prime president Hans Sy said.

“Our continuing business expansion only affirms our commitment to provide for better retail facilities and services in cities and municipalities that are fast emerging from greater economic stability fueled by remittances from overseas workers and the growth in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector,” Sy added.

SM Prime initially invested P1.6 billion in the Bacolod mall prior to its opening in March 2007. It was the company’s third mall in the Visayas after existing shopping centers in Cebu and Iloilo.

Earlier this year, the company inaugurated its latest mall in Olongapo, its first mall in the province of Zambales. For the rest of 2012, SM Prime is scheduled to open new malls in Lanang, Davao City; General Santos in Southern Mindanao;  Consolacion, Cebu; San Fernando, Pampanga, and Chongqing in China.

By the end of 2012, SM Prime will have 46 malls in the Philippines and five in China with an estimated combined GFA of 6.3 million square meters. – Rappler.com