SM Lanang Premier seen to create 10,000 jobs

New SM mall seen to create 10,000 jobs
Monday, October 1, 2012
Source: BusinessWorld

DAVAO CITY -- SM Lanang Premier, the newest shopping mall here, is expected to generate 10,000 jobs by the time it goes into full operation next year, a top official of mall developer and operator SM Prime Holdings, Inc. said during the opening on Friday last week.

   

SM Prime President Hans T. Sy said the mall’s department store will account for about a fifth of this work force.

“I would say that by the next six months we will be able to complete the project,” he said.

SM Prime’s older mall here, SM City Davao which opened 11 years ago, had generated about 6,000 jobs, said Debbie A. Go, SM Supermalls assistant vice-president.

Davao City currently has a working population of about 800,000 with unemployment rate estimated by the regional National Statistics Office at less than 7%.

Mr. Sy said the projected total number of jobs to be generated includes those to be employed by concessionaires as well as by the 204-room hotel now under construction in the complex.

Mr. Sy said his company is spending about P4 billion on the SM Lanang Premier complex development, with P2.5 billion going to the shopping mall and the remainder to be spent on the hotel.

The mall, the 46th to be build by the company in the country has four floors with 273 spaces for locators, 70% already leased out although some locators are to open their stores later this year or early next year.

The mall is the fourth for the company in Mindanao: two malls here and one each in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and General Santos.

SM Lanang Premier covers an area of about 144,000 square meters (sq. m.), with 83,000 sq. m. set aside for locators. The site covers a 10-hectare area that used to be occupied by Lanang Golf and Country Club, owned by the Dakudao clan.

Among the main features of the city’s newest mall are its 1,500-slot parking space, the SMX Convention Center and Imax cinema.

During the mall’s opening, Mr. Sy told local media his company expects to start construction next year of new malls in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Butuan. Three more malls in various cities in Mindanao will be built in the next five years, he added.