SM PRIME Holdings, Inc., the property arm of the SM group, is now positioning itself as a township developer, as construction of office spaces in its 76-hectare Mall of Asia (MOA) complex in Pasay City goes into full swing.

“SM is not considered a player in township development — they never talk of SM in that space. But we’re not just a stand-alone condominium developer — we’re also a mixed-use, township developer,” David L. Rafael, senior vice-president of SM Prime Commercial Properties Group, told a media briefing yesterday at the TwoE-comCenter in MOA complex.

“We have to start thinking of Mall of Asia as a business district and not just a mall. It is clearly a mixed-use development with all the residential, office and entertainment components.”

Next month, the company will open its latest office project, the FiveE-comCenter, which will have a gross floor area of 126,907 square meters (sq.m.) and a gross leasable area of 88,000 sq.m.

“Our compelling proposition is our 7,500-sq.m. floor plate. I doubt if you can find an office building this large,” Mr. Rafael said.

The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has an average floor plate of 1,500 sq.m. to 3,000 sq.m., according to property consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle.

“BPOs are after efficiency and maximizing manpower. If you have a floor plate this big, you can supervise all your employees easily and reduce your operating cost,” he added.

The P3-billion FiveE-comCenter is part of SM’s planned six-building office complex called E-comCenters, which will be completed by 2019.

The 15-storey FiveE-comCenter is already 50% pre-leased, with 80% of tenants expected to come from the BPO sector, and the rest from the shipping and logistics industries. It will be rented out for P650 per sq.m. and is seen to contribute P600 million to P700 million in annual gross revenue.

“BPOs usually look like warehouses. But for our developments, we want to make sure that they look like office buildings,” Mr. Rafael said.

Aside from the office space, the MOA complex also houses the country’s largest mall, the 407,000-sq.m. SM Mall of Asia; residential components under wholly owned subsidiary SM Development Corp.; and the SMX Convention Center under SM Hotels and Conventions Corp.