Shopping mall giant SM Prime Holdings Inc. will open this Friday its second mall in Batangas — SM City Lipa — aimed at taking advantage of the area’s huge and progressive population base.

SM Prime Holdings, Inc. (SM Prime) will open its second mall in Batangas Province on September 22. SM City Lipa, which is strategically located along the Lipa’s Ayala Highway, occupies 103,242 square meters (sqm) of land, with 77,682 sqm of gross floor area.

NABAS, Aklan—Tycoon Henry Sy has bought majority control of a 430-hectare property here that is being eyed as recreation area for local and foreign tourists visiting Boracay Island.

Big-space shopping centers are becoming popular retail formats given their revenue-generating and customer-convenience appeal. They have, however, yet to significantly affect the market share of smaller-sized operations, and Philippine retailers are finding their own approaches as competition intensifies.

SM Mart, Inc. has launched the SM Advantage Prestige, an elite membership club of the SM Advantage, the consumer loyalty program of SM retail stores.

The proposed construction of an SM mall in Cagayan Valley is seen to further enhance the region’s economic turnaround after a rebound in its agriculture production

PROPERTY advisory firm CB Richard Ellis Philippines said the real estate sector will continue to be buoyed by hefty demand for office spaces particularly from business process and outsourcing firms which in turn, will boost expansion of retail development in the provinces, it said in a study dated Aug. 28.

Prospects for the Philippine property sector remain bullish as office space vacancies continue to shrink in the Makati central business district (CBD) demand for Metro Manila residential units increases.

Stock brokerage firm ATR-Kin-Eng Securities has raised its 2007 net profit target for SM Prime Holdings Inc. by three percent to P6.59 billion, mainly due to stronger cash flows from new malls.

THIS Christmas season, a Metro Manila congressman wants shopping mall owners to temporarily give up parking fee collections. Pasig Representative Robert “DodotJaworski Jr. said this would be the best Christmas