SM Prime Holdings Inc. (SMPH), the country’s biggest mall developer, plans to redevelop SM Megamall in Mandaluyong next year.

Once completed, company president Hans T. Sy, said the Mandaluyong project could become the largest shopping mall in the Philippines, surpassing SM North Edsa in Quezon City and Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

“Everything is still on the planning stage for Megamall. We have not yet touched on the scope and the investments that we’ll be needing for its redevelopment,” Sy told reporters at the media tour for the newly opened Sky Garden in SM North Edsa.

Initially, he said SMPH is eyeing to convert the three-hectare parking lot fronting Megamall into a new building of stalls and parking spaces.  “The new development would be connected to the existing building,” added Sy.

Built in the 1990s, SM Megamall was ranked the seventh-largest mall in the world last year by the Eastern Connecticut State University. Sy, one of the six children of retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr., said SM Megamall continues to attract a critical mass despite the tough competition in the area with the likes of Shangri-La Mall, Robinsons Galleria and sister-mall, The Podium.

To date, SMPH’s biggest mall is the one in North Edsa, whose gross leasable area  has grown to 445,000 square meters following the completion of the P600-million Sky Garden, a long elevated curvilinear park at the second floor of the former parking lot fronting the City Center and The Block.

Its attractions include the Roof Garden, Sky Dome (a performance area), several water features and various retail, dining and entertainment establishments.

In the pipeline is the renovation of the North Edsa’s main building, which, according to Sy, would give the public “a totally different look.”

SMPH has earlier set aside over P2 billion for the renovation and expansion of the SM North Edsa.

Earlier, SMPH reported a 7-percent rise in net profit for the first quarter of the year to P1.7 billion despite anticipation that the global financial turmoil could lead to reduced consumer spending. The growth was backed by an 18-percent rise in revenues to P4.7 billion.