SM set to open 3rd mall in Pangasinan

MANILA, Philippines — SM Prime Holdings Inc., the listed property developer of the Sy Group, continues to expand in northern Luzon.

It is set to open SM Center Dagupan, its third mall in Pangasinan with a focus on the lifestyle concept, which means the mall will be bigger with a lot of options for dining and recreation.

The new lifestyle mall will follow the first two SM Supermalls in the province – SM City Rosales and SM City Urdaneta Central.

It will be SM Prime’s 74th lifestyle mall and will expand the company’s mall footprint by 23,000 square meters (sqm) of gross floor area (GFA).

Together with the two SM Malls in Pangasinan, the combined size of the three SM Supermalls in the province is now 145,000 sqm of GFA.

SM Prime president Jeffrey Lim said Dagupan City is considered as Pangasinan’s industrial hub and the most highly urbanized city.

“The addition of SM Center Dagupan in this progressive and vibrant city will attract more local and international tourists, further boosting the growth of the local economy,” Lim said.

SM Center Dagupan, which will open with 90 percent of space lease-awarded, will feature shopping, dining and entertainment destinations.

It will have more than 400 carpark slots as well as bus terminal slots for added convenience for the mall’s and city’s guests.

Last month, SM Prime also opened SM Olongapo in Zambales.

At present, SM Prime has 74 malls in the Philippines offering at least 8.3 million square meters (sqm) of gross floor area (GFA) and seven malls in China with 1.3 million sqm of GFA.

Aside from SM Prime, many other companies have been setting up operations in northern Luzon particularly in Clark given the rosy prospects in the region including the redevelopment of the Clark International Airport and the development of the Clark economic corridor.