December 9, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The SM Group of the Sy family will continue to expand in China, with two new malls set to open in the next few years.
SM is poised to grow its China mall network to 10 with the opening of a new shopping center next year and another in 2027.
“In China, we have two more projects. We have additional two more malls that will be opened. One is in Xiamen again but farther area. One is in Fuzhou, also part of the Fujian province,” SM Supermalls president Steven Tan said.
“These two new projects will keep us very busy for the next three to four years,” he said.
Tan said the new shopping center slated for opening next year will be SM’s second mall in Xiamen.
“It’s part of Xiamen but more in the outskirts. We feel there’s an opportunity there. Our head office is in Xiamen so it’s easier. Right now, our focus has been more on the Fujian province simply because of proximity,” Tan said.
“Our original Xiamen mall (SM City Xiamen) has already four buildings and it’s doing extremely well. Takeup is also very good and occupancy has always been in the 90-percent level so there’s opportunity. There’s a new lot that was offered by the government and we’ve studied it and it was good,” he said.
Tan said SM City Xiamen is also continuing with its expansion with the opening of the first part of Xiamen 4.
He said the company is finalizing discussions with the InterContinental Hotels Group for a boutique hotel brand that will be part of the mall expansion.
“The completion of all of it since there will be a hotel attached to it also is most probably by end of next year,” Tan said.
SM opened its first mall in China in 2001 and currently operates eight malls with a total gross floor area of 1.7 million square meters.
The SM Group, through integrated property developer SM Prime Holdings Inc., is the largest mall operator in the Philippines with 87 malls in its portfolio.
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