Mall operator SM Prime Holdings Inc. has entered into a deal to lease a piece of prime property of the state-run pension fund Government Service Insurance System, the GSIS said Wednesday. 

The deal is valued at P1.3 billion and gives SM Prime the right to use the three-hectare property along Elliptical Road in Quezon City for 25 years, and is renewable by mutual consent, the GSIS said.

A GSIS satellite office currently occupies the site. SM Prime will develop the property into a commercial complex, the GSIS said.

It said its Quezon City satellite office would be open for business during the construction period.

After completion of the development, the satellite office will be housed in the new SM commercial complex, it added.

The GSIS said it had published its offer for development of the property in 2006.

It said three groups made offers and the SM group came up with the best offer “after a thorough evaluation process.�?

It said its board of trustees authorized the GSIS management last Feb. 6 to negotiate with the SM group on a long-term lease of the property.

Last year, SM Prime inaugurated three malls: SM City Bacolod, with a gross floor area of 61,413 square meters, SM City Taytay with a gross floor area of 91,920 sq. m., and SM Supercenter Muntinlupa with a gross floor area of 53,986 sq. m.

It also expanded SM City Pampanga, SM City Cebu and SM Mall of Asia.

As of end-2007, SM Prime’s 30 malls nationwide, including 13 in Metro Manila, had a combined gross floor area of 3.9 million sq. m., with an average daily pedestrian count of 2.5 million.

This year, SM Prime intends to open three new malls and expand two others, with an estimated capital expenditure of P6 billion.

The new malls are SM Supercenter Rosales in the northern province of Pangasinan, SM City Baliuag in Bulacan province, and SM City Marikina in Metro Manila.

Scheduled for expansion are Metro Manila malls: SM City Fairview and SM Megamall.

At the end of this year, SM Prime will have 33 malls in the Philippines, with a combined gross floor area of 4.1 million sq. m