SETTING aside competition, the Philippines’ largest property developer Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) considers the planned shopping mall development of the SM group in Taguig City as complementary to existing projects in the posh site.

“With SM, we’ve always found that when we are there together, it actually increases traffic in the whole area,” said former ALI president and now Ayala Corp. senior managing director Jaime Ayala in an interview with the BusinessMirror.

Since Fort Bonifacio is a new area and an emerging location for residential developments, business establishments and entertainment venues, he said the entry of SM will further promote land values, especially within the Bonifacio Global City where ALI owns a vast landbank.

The BusinessMirror earlier reported the plan of the Sy-led SM group to build a P2-billion shopping center in Taguig City by the end of the year.

To be undertaken by its mall development arm SM Prime Holdings Inc., the mall will be a part of a commercial complex envisioned to rise in a sprawling property owned by the Taguig government.

The shopping center alone will occupy around 1.8 hectares. A hotel, to be developed by another entity, would also be built within the complex.

“SM is leasing the property from the Taguig government for 25 years,” the source said.

The design of the shopping center is still being finalized but the source said it would more or less cater to the upper market because of its proximity to ALI’s residential and commercial developments Serendra and Bonifacio High Street. Meanwhile, ALI’s mall development Market! Market! mostly attracts low- to middle-income customers.

 “We expect to complete the shopping center by 2011,” added the source.

The SM group’s expansion in Taguig, the source added, indicates its bullish outlook on the country’s fundamentals, despite the challenges brought by the global financial crisis.

Earlier, SM Prime reported a consolidated net income of P6.4 billion in 2008 from P6 billion the year before. Revenues, on the other hand, grew 12 percent to P17.8 billion. These results included the operations of the three SM malls in China. The SM China malls are in the cities of Xiamen and Jinjiang in Southern China, and Chengdu in Central China.

 “Notwithstanding the global financial situation, SM Prime achieved its goals and sustained its expansion in 2008,” said SM Prime president Hans Sy.  This year the company plans to open SM City Naga in Camarines Sur, SM City Rosario in Cavite, SM City Pamplona in Las Piñas, and the Sky Garden at SM City North Edsa.

The company is also set to expand SM City Rosales in Pangasinan.

By the end of the year, SM Prime will have 36 malls nationwide and three malls in China, with an estimated GFA of 4.9 million square meters.