Sun.Star Cebu <> Monday, July 6, 2009
BY NANCY R. CUDIS, Sun.Star Staff Reporter
A SECOND SM mall for Cebu by 2011.
SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPHI) president Hans Sy made the disclosure, adding that the company is in the middle of negotiations for the possible acquisition of three separate properties in Cebu where the company plans to build one more mall.
“I should say (there will be) good news toward the third quarter (this year). By then, we should be closing some deals, although (we) cannot promise you that we will be able to acquire all three properties,” Sy told a press conference Friday.
At first, he declined to reveal the location of the three properties, but he admitted later that one of the sites is the South Road Properties (SRP), the 300-hectare reclamation project of the Cebu City Government.
“It would be very ideal to close all three. I wish I could take all three. If I can, I would. Hopefully, it would include the SRP. That is how bullish we are with Cebu. We already acquired a new site in Davao and General Santos, so why not (also) look at Cebu when it is among the best in the Visayas and Mindanao,” Sy said.
2011 opening
Once it closes a deal, SMPHI will immediately start construction and open a new mall “within 18 to 30 months.”
If it closes all three deals, SMPHI will simultaneously build three SM mall branches and open them by 2011.
For each development, SMPHI will implement a “formula” of starting on an area of 80,000 to 85,000 square meters before upgrading it into a mall occupying 200,000 square meters—about the same size as SM City Cebu.
“Definitely, we have to have at least a second mall in Cebu.
The locations we have identified are very ideal and have the (potential) for expansion,” Sy said.
He believes that Cebu is ready for more malls, saying there is enough market despite the global financial crisis.
In 2007, Sy disclosed plans of building two future malls in Cebu—each expected to cost P1 billion—once SMPHI has found land for the projects and after the completion of the SM City Cebu Northwing.
Offer
In October last year, the Cebu Investment Promotions Center, the marketing arm of the SRP, disclosed that SMPHI made an offer to buy a 20-hectare parcel of land at SRP for a mixed-use development project.
Meanwhile, SMPHI will open this year a supercenter in Las Piñas and a shopping center in Cavite, bringing the total number of SM malls nationwide to 36.
Next year, the company targets to open four malls, all in Luzon. Construction of SM malls in Davao and General Santos is underway. The malls are expected to be completed by 2011.
SMPHI also has three malls in China—Chengdu, Jinjiang and Xiamen—and will be putting up the fourth in Suzhou, China next year.
“Our main focus is still the Philippines. There is still room for growth here. China is our growth story five years from now.
We are, little by little, building our brand name there,” said Sy who attended the inauguration of China Bank Cebu Business Center last Friday.
With so much competition in China, he said SMPHI’s strategy is to enter into third-tiered cities where most of the residents are not familiar with shopping malls.
Sy also disclosed that SMPHI has brought the equipment that will introduce Imax (Image Maximum) cinema technology in Cebu.
The company is renovating Cinema 4 at SM City to house the equipment.
When asked for updates on the planned convention center of SM Investment Corp. (SMIC), Sy said the company is still focused on finishing the Radisson Hotel—an SMIC property that will be managed by international hotel management chain Radisson—located beside SM City Cebu mall at the North Reclamation Area, Cebu City. The hotel will soft-open in November this year.
SMIC, he said, is still studying ways to come up with enough parking slots for the three-story convention center that is planned to rise on an 8,000-square meter area next to Radisson Hotel and SM City Cebu mall.
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