New office tower redefines retail landscape at SM Megamall
For more than two decades, SM Megamall has not ceased from revolutionizing the shopping landscape with innovation that makes it different from other mall developers. And to celebrate its 25th year, SM Megamall is offering a new shopping feature with the construction of a 50-story office tower on a 170,000 square meters of gross floor area to complement the existing mall.
“SM has always been about innovation. This will be a modern and well-designed tower with huge surprises on the retail side. It will be very exciting as it opens in 2019,” SM Supermalls senior vice president Steven Tan said.
The curvy S-shape tower represents the next step in the architectural evolution of the mall, acites cording to architect Fides Hsu, SM Engineering Design and Development Corp. vice president for design. The interior will be modern and corporate, and will take its cue from the tower’s architecture.
When SM Megamall opened its doors to the public on June 28, 1991, its total floor area was around 311,898 square meters showcasing SM Department Store, two SM Supermarkets, a food court, 12 cinemas, a bowling center, the first ice skating rink, the Megatrade Hall and an art walk which featured a whole floor of galleries and exhibits.
Several expansions and enhancements were later made with Mega Atrium opening in 2009 that connected Buildings A and B on Julia Vargas, adding 16,368.64 sqm of retail space. It features the Chapel of the Eucharistic Lord at 1,700 sqm and showcases trendy and premium brands such as Gap, Promod, Springfield, and restaurants like Sambokojin, Mesa, Yabu, Chili’s, Kichitora, Choi Garden, Amici, and Filipino favor- Barrio Fiesta and Cabalen, to name a few. Two years later, it added the Carpark Building C fronting the busy avenue of EDSA that housed offices, additional parking areas and a transportation terminal that caters to 1,850 buses a day or an average of 142 buses per hour.
It was in 2014 when Mega Fashion Hall was unveiled to redefine its market reach. It housed the flagship store of international retail brands such as Zara and Uniqlo stores and became the launch pad of furniture powerhouse Crate and Barrel and Michelin-star restaurants like Tim Ho Wan and Din Tai Fung, bring the total lot area of the mall to 474,225 sqm lot area, making it one of the largest in the country. Years of evolution
SM Prime chairman Henry Sy Jr. recalled that SM Megamall came in the aftermath of a coup d’etat, an energy crisis, an earthquake and the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo between the 1980s to the 1990s. At that time, Sy said his father, Henry Sr., was keenly interested in a fivehectare property located on the corner of Ortigas Ave. and EDSA that belonged to the Ortigas family. The elder Sy just opened his first mall on North EDSA in 1985 and was on the scout for the next opportunity.
SM’s constant desire to innovate and enhance its developments has helped property values to appreciate over time especially in the surrounding communities which has resulted in a booming business environment in that particular side of the EDSA corridor.
“Today, if you were to buy property in that area, it would be at P200,000 per square meter,” Sy said.
Glenn Ang, SM Supermalls senior vice president who worked as SM’s regional manager also recalled that the new mall drew people mainly from the east corridor like Cainta and Antipolo and other municipalities in Rizal. When the MRT was built in 2000, SM Megamall became more accessible to crowds from Caloocan to Pasay. It also attracted people from the northern provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga who reached the mall by bus.
Sustainable features of the mall came along the way. It introduced high ceilings made from recycled paper waste, sky lights, bigger glass windows to conserve energy, the use of LED lights that can reduce energy consumption. It has also implemented a water recycling program using fixtures that support the efficient use of water, promoted viable solid waste management, built an integrated bus terminal to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and, in the process, decongesting traffic along EDSA. It has also implemented a Business Continuity Management System which has been certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Also, it was given the ISO 22301-2012 by testing company TUV SUD Singapore, making it the only mall in the country to have been awarded as such.
SM Megamall also caters to the special needs of persons with disabilities through PWD friendly ramps, elevators and service areas.
“Every single day that you walk in any SM mall, you have to walk with a purpose. That is what the Sy family has taught us. That means always looking for constant improvement, constant innovation and an interpretation of what the market is wishing and hoping for and want to see,” SM Supermalls president Annie Garcia said.