Artist Perspective of SM City Tianjin.

SM Prime Holdings, Inc., one of the leading integrated property companies in Southeast Asia, announced the soft opening of SM City Tianjin, its seventh mall in China, last December 17.

The firm said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange that SM City Tianjin has a gross floor area (GFA) of 565,000 square meters (sqm).

“The opening of SM City Tianjin reflects our strong confidence on China’s economy. This gives SM Prime a wider perspective on China’s shopping culture, allowing us to capture bigger opportunities as an international integrated property developer,” SM Prime President Jeffrey C. Lim said.

SMTJ Panorama

SM Prime continues to expand in China as its consumer spending growth remains to be strong. China’s consumption has been growing faster than any other country’s in absolute terms.

From 2000 to 2010, China’s consumption grew from around US$ 650 billion to US$ 1.4 trillion creating the largest consumer market in the world.

SM City Tianjin is the newest landmark within the Tianjin Airport Economic Area at the emerging Binhai New Area, the largest free trade zone in Northern China and a thriving central business district where international corporations in logistics and financial services are setting up offices.

Considered as a “new economic pole” along the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and Shanghai Pudong New Area, the Binhai New Area is home to over 2,000 enterprises from 130 countries.

SM City Tianjin is adjacent to the airport and is accessible through the cities of Beijing and Qinhuangdao via buses, expressways and high-speed railways.

It joins SM Prime’s China malls portfolio namely SM City Xiamen, SM City Jinjiang, SM City Chengdu, SM City Suzhou, SM City Chongqing and SM City Zibo, all with a combined GFA of 1.5 million sqm.

SM Prime brings the dynamic world of SM to Tianjin by offering diverse shopping, dining and leisure experiences with more than 60 percent of space leased out.

SM City Tianjin opened with anchor tenants such as Dadi IFree Cinema, Bravo Yonghui Supermarket, Jiawen, FTZ Korea World, Decathlon, Acasia Food Court and Watsons. It also features a kid-friendly Exploreum, Wellness tenants, a skating rink, as well as 8,110 parking slots for the shoppers.

In the Philippines, SM Prime has 60 malls with the recent opening of SM City East Ortigas in Pasig City last December 2 with a GFA of more than 80,000 sqm; SM Cherry Congressional in Quezon City last November 25 with more than 13,000 sqm in GFA; SM City San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan last April with 101,000 sqm in GFA; and SM City Trece Martires in Cavite last May 2016 with 84,000 sqm in GFA.

This brings SM Prime’s combined GFA to 9.1 million sqm both in the Philippines and in China.

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