MANILA –SM Prime Holdings Inc broke ground on Friday on its fourth office building in the Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City, underscoring robust demand for office projects in the bay area.

On the sidelines of the groundbreaking event, SM Prime – Commercial Properties Group senior vice president David L. Rafael told reporters that the company is spending P3.2 billion to develop ThreeE-com Center to serve the business process outsourcing (BPO) as well as shipping, logistics and other industries.

The 15-storey commercial building, composed of a basement and a two-level podium parking, will add 126,907 square meters of gross floor area to the Henry Sy-led company’s portfolio.

“We’re accelerating [the development of E-com buildings] because demand from the BPO has been strong,” Rafael said.

Set to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2017, ThreeE-com will generate gross rental revenues of P1 billion a year and charge premium rental rates once it secures Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) green building certification.

Rental rates at ThreeE-com are pegged at P550 per square meter, but in two to three years, this will increase to P650-700 per square meter, Rafael said.

ThreeE-com is one of six E-com buildings to rise at the Mall of Asia complex. The first five E-com office developments have a total floor area of roughly 660,000 square meters. A sixth E-com building is in the planning stage.

SM Prime will break ground on FourE-com next year and will be completed in 2019. Construction has started on FiveE-com, which will be operational by April 2015.

“FiveE-com is 50 percent leased out. We’re confident that by next year, it will be fully leased out,” Rafael said.

SM Prime has completed the development of OneE-com and TwoE-com in 2008 and 2012, respectively.

The 10-hectare corporate office block in the Mall of Asia complex is also earmarked for future E-Com office developments, Rafael said.

SM Prime is also expanding its offerings of Cyberzone developments, or office buildings with a floor area of 60,000 square meters. In the next two to three years, the company eyes to build three Cyberzone office projects outside the Mall of Asia complex.

At the moment, the company operates SM Makati Cyber One and Two, SM Cyber Baguio and SM Cyber West near SM North Edsa in Quezon City.

SM Prime is the holding firm for the mall, residential, office and leisure businesses of the Sy family following a corporate restructuring exercise approved by the SEC in October 2013.

With the consolidation of the Sy family’s real estate assets, the enlarged SM Prime is now in a position to undertake larger scale projects with the participation of all of its business units.

SM Prime is spending P400 billion to beef up its businesses that will double earnings within the next five years. The company is spending P60.9 billion this year.

SM Prime’s first-half profits jumped 12 percent year-on-year to P9.80 billion on the strength of its mall operations and the recovery of its residential business.