MALL developer and operator SM Prime Holdings Inc. is set to open SM City San Pablo this Friday, the company’s 38th shopping center in the country and its second in Laguna province.

SM Prime said the new mall, which has a gross floor area (GFA) of 56,086 square meters (sqm), is already 99-percent leased out.

“Laguna is a key area for our mall expansion, with its bustling cities, relative proximity to Metro Manila, and a thriving tourism industry,” said SM Prime president Hans T. Sy in a statement.

Later this year, SM Prime is scheduled to open SM City Calamba, also in the province of Laguna, and SM City Novaliches in Quezon City to end the year with 40 malls in the country.

Laguna province is home to several major industrial zones and manufacturing plants. The majority of its population belongs to the middle-income bracket.

Meanwhile, SM City San Pablo’s anchor tenants are SM Supermarket and SM Department Store. Among the quick service restaurants located in the mall are Jollibee, McDonald’s, KFC, Mang Inasal, Chowking, Red Ribbon, Greenwich and Pizza Hut. Full service Chinese restaurant Savory is likewise a tenant of SM City San Pablo.

Other tenants include Ace Hardware, Watsons, SM Appliances, Banco de Oro Unibank, China Bank, National Bookstore, Bench, Toby’s, Penshoppe, Silicon Valley and Let’s Face It.

The mall has four cinemas with a combined seating capacity of about 1,400 and has parking slots for over 600 vehicles and a terminal for public utility vehicles.

The company’s first mall in the province is SM City Sta. Rosa, which opened in February 2006.

SM City San Pablo is the second SM mall to be opened this year, after SM City Tarlac, which was inaugurated in April. At present, the company’s malls have a GFA of 4.7 million sqm.

The company is also set to open toward the end of the year SM Suzhou, the company’s fourth shopping center in mainland China.