Xiamen, China — SM Prime Holdings Inc., the mall development arm of Henry Sy flagship SM Investment Corp., will develop four malls in China within four years, spending about P23.63 billion or 3.58 billion renminbi (RMB), including one which will be bigger than the Mall of Asia, currently Asia’s biggest.

SM Shopping Center Management Corp. (SMCC) president Annie Garcia said the new SM malls will be in Suzhou, Chongqing, Tian Jin and Shandong, adding that the company is negotiating for new mall sites in China, including one in Foozhou, the capital of Fujian province, as SM steps up its China presence.

SM Prime China projects vice president for finance Diane Dionisio said SM Tian Jin will be the firm’s biggest mall ever with a gross leasable space of 530,000 square meters, bigger than the 409,000-sqm Mall of Asia, and will be built on a 43-hectare lot and will have a footprint of around three hectares — approximately the size of three football stadiums.

SM Tian Jin will cost about RMB2 billion with construction expected to be completed by 2013 and will after start this year. Tian Jin is about an hour by car from Beijing and is one of four major cities in China, including Beijing and Shanghai.

Dionisio said this also marks SM Prime’s first entry into a major city in China since it had focused more on small cities or municipalities that are still under-served.

Meanwhile, Dionisio said SM Suzhou will cost RMB450 million and will have a gross leasable area of 73,000 sqm which will open by December 2010. She noted that the mall is more expensive than others because of the high cost of land.

To be opened next year is SM Chongqing, which will have 150,000 sqm of gross leasable space and will cost RMB500 million. SM Shandong, on the other hand, will open in late 2013 and will cost RMB630 and will have a GLA of 170,000 square meters.

SM Prime has just completed and opened last Sept. 24 its RMB330-million high end mall, SM Lifestyle Center, which is just across the street from SM Xiamen, the SM group’s most mature and most profitable mall in China.

Mall manager Marcus Dee said SM Lifestyle Center, the first upscale mall targeting market consisting of the middle-upper class, has 110,000 sqm of gross leasable area divided into three buildings — Topaz, Ruby and Sapphire.

According to Danny Ngao, assistant vice president for leasing in SM’s China regional headquarters, SM Xiamen enjoys 100 percent occupancy while the malls in Jinjiang and Chengdu have occupancy rates of about 92 percent.

The new SM Lifestyle Center is already 80 percent occupied and is expected to end the year with an occupancy rate of 90 percent once more stores open in time for the change into the winter season. Also, by next year, the SM Lifestyle Center and SM City Xiamen will be linked together by a footbridge.

Meanwhile, SMIC executive vice president and chief executive officer Jose Sio earlier had said that the SM Group will need to have at least seven hotels for the Real Estate Investment Trust or REIT.

So far, SM Hotels and Conventions Corp. has five properties, including Taal Vista in Tagaytay, Pico Sands at the Pico de Loro, the Radissons Blu in Cebu and another Radissons Blu to be opened in Manila, beside Mall of Asia.