SM City Laoag to open as SM Prime’s 88th mall
LISTED SM Prime Holdings, Inc. will open SM City Laoag in Ilocos Norte on May 30, marking the real estate developer’s 88th mall in the country.
Located near Laoag International Airport, the three-level SM City Laoag has more than 51,000 square meters of gross leasable space, SM Prime said in a statement on Wednesday. It is the first SM mall in Ilocos Norte.
SM Prime said SM City Laoag is opening with 90% of its space already awarded to lessees.
The mall is projected to generate about 4,000 local jobs across retail, operations, and support services.
SM City Laoag features tenants such as SM Store, SM Supermarket, SM Cinema, Ace Hardware, Pet Express, Miniso, and BDO. It also includes retail and lifestyle brands like Levi’s, Columbia, Adidas, Watsons, and Parfois.
The mall will also host global and local dining concepts such as TGI Fridays, Vikings, Marugame Udon, Café Amian, and Milk Pot.
SM City Laoag also has a central open-air park called “Dap-ayan,” named after the Ilocano word for gathering place. It will serve as a community space for events and leisure.
“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 C. Lim said.
“We’re excited to support the region’s economic momentum,” he added.
Meanwhile, SM Prime said it is studying a complementary hotel development in Laoag City to capitalize on the area’s growing tourism and meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions potential, expanding its footprint beyond retail in Northern Luzon.
SM Prime earmarked P100 billion in capital expenditure (capex) this year.
Of the total capex, P67 billion will fund SM Residences and integrated property developments, P21 billion will support the expansion of SM malls’ gross floor area, and P12 billion will be allocated to the office, hospitality, and meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions businesses.
By the end of the year, the company expects its mall portfolio’s gross floor area to surpass 8 million square meters.
SM Prime shares dropped by 0.22% or five centavos to P22.95 apiece on Wednesday. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
