SM Prime Holdings, Inc. broke ground on its fifth office building at the SM Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City, with plans to start construction of another one as early as this year amid strong demand.

On the sidelines of the groundbreaking event on Friday, SM Prime Senior Vice President David L. Rafael told reporters the company is spending as much as P4.2 billion to develop FourE-comCenter to serve the need for office space of the outsourcing industry and other businesses.
 
The 16-storey commercial building, including a basement and a four-level podium parking, will add 123,968 square meters (sqm) of gross floor area (GFA) to its portfolio of E-com buildings, bringing the total to 645,000 sqm.
 
“The demand for office space remains aggressive, thanks to the continued economic growth of the country. Strong interest remains due to more investors realizing the potential of the Philippines for their business. Our job is to provide them with good office space,” Mr. Rafael said.
 
The sluggish growth in the United States and Europe will only force more companies to outsource their operations here, he added.
 
Set to be completed in 2019, FourE-com will generate gross rental revenue of P700 million annually, assuming a monthly rental rate of P750 to P800 per sqm, Mr. Rafael said.
 
Current rental rates at the Mall of Asia complex are pegged at P600 to P620 per sqm, he added.
 
SM Prime may break ground on SixE-comCenter, which will complete the pipeline of E-com buildings based on the current master plan, as early as this year or next year, Mr. Rafael said. Upon completion, the combined GFA of all six buildings will hit 800,000 sqm.
 
SM Prime may build more office buildings within the Mall of Asia complex. The mixed-use development has about 14 hectares (ha) of available land for office development, bulk of which will come from the existing 10-ha corporate office block.
 
“The market is very volatile but as you know SM is a long term player. If you recall, we broke ground on SM North EDSA when Ninoy Aquino was assassinated. You just have to see the market. It’s a cycle,” Mr. Rafael said.
 
SM Prime is also expanding its offerings of Cyberzone developments, or office buildings with a GFA of 60,000 square meters. It is planning to put up an office project in Manila, Mr. Rafael said.
 
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.
 
Shares in SM Prime added 38 centavos or 2.02% to close at P19.22 on Friday.