MANILA, Philippines — SM Prime Holdings Inc., the integrated property development arm of the Sy family’s SM Group, is set to open tomorrow its first mall in Ilocos Norte and its 88th shopping center in the country.
SM City Laoag, a three-level complex offering over 51,000 square meters of gross leasable space, is part of SM Prime’s push to expand into high-growth regional corridors.
The new mall will open with 90 percent of its space already lease-awarded and is expected to generate approximately 4,000 jobs for Ilocanos across retail, operations and support services.
“The opening of SM City Laoag reinforces our commitment to bring modern, accessible and community-oriented retail experiences to underserved but fast-growing areas,” SM Prime president Jeffrey Lim said.
Lim said that SM Prime is excited to support the region’s economic momentum, with the new mall poised to become a new urban anchor for Northern Luzon.
Strategically located along Airport Road, just minutes from the city center and near Laoag International Airport, SM City Laoag features a robust tenant mix, including SM Store, SM Supermarket, SM Cinema, Ace Hardware, Pet Express, Miniso and BDO.
Aside from global and local dining concepts, the mall will also have a central open-air park that will serve as a community space for events and leisure.
SM Prime said it is also studying a complementary hotel development in Laoag to tap into the area’s growing tourism and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) potential, expanding its footprint beyond retail in Northern Luzon.
The STAR earlier reported the planned opening of SM City Laoag on May 30. It is the first of three new malls SM Prime has lined up for opening this year, with the other two being SM City La Union and SM City Zamboanga.
SM Supermalls president Steven Tan earlier said that SM City La Union will open by the latter part of the year, around September or October, while SM City Zamboanga is eyed for opening by November or December.
For this year, a total of P21 billion has been allotted for the expansion of SM Supermalls’ gross floor area (GFA).
Aside from additional GFA to be provided by new developments, a total of 124,488 square meters of existing mall space will also undergo redevelopment.
SM Prime’s mall expansion is currently geared toward the provinces as it moves to achieve a milestone of 100 malls in the Philippines by the end of 2027.
The company said the focus is to cover most of Northern Luzon, Visayas and the progressive cities in Mindanao moving forward.