The mood was definitely one of the celebration when close to a million shoppers visited the SM Mall of Asia when it opened its doors to the public last Sunday, May 21.

As soon as SM Prime Holdings president Hans T. Sy and SM Inc. president Teresita Sy-Coson, in the SM tradition opened the mall’s doors to the first wave of customers, the crowd simply flowed in to shop, dine, watch a movie and have fun. Topping their list was mall’s main attractions: a panoramic view of the famous Manila Bay, the country’s first IMAX theater, the country’s first Olympic-size skating rink and over 600 local and international brands and over 150 indoor and al fresco dining outlets.

Envisioned to be the premiere destination mall in Asia Pacific region, the more than 400,000 sq.m. mall is located on a 19-hectare property in the Bay Boulevard in Pasay City. It is SM Prime Holdings’ 25th supermall, and the company’s most ambitious project to date.

The main mall includes shopping and dining establishments, the Foodcourt and the country’s first Olympic size ice skating rink. The South parking Building houses the SM Department Store and half of 5,000 parking spaces; while the North Parking Building included the SM International north and south streets were converted to landscaped pedestrian and outdoor retail and dining tenants.

The SM Mall of Asia’s design team included Arquitectonica, design architect; Robert Carag Ong and Associates, architect of record; GHT Services, project manager; and Hilmark Construction ) for South Parking Building, Main Mall; and Entertainment Mall), and Monolith Construction Corp. (for the North Parking Building), general contractors.