SM Land pursuing P4.2B office building projects

SM Land, under its Commercial Properties Group, has earmarked P4.25 billion for two major office building projects in 2012—ThreeE-comCenter, the third installment of a four-structure business hub in the Mall of Asia Complex (MOAC) in Pasay City, and SM Cyber West Avenue, a stand-alone office building on a property across SM North EDSA Mall in Quezon City.

ThreeE-comCenter was estimated to cost P3.2 billion, while SM Cyber West will require investments of P1.05 billion.

“We remain confident in the continued growth of the business process outsourcing industry in the Philippines,” said David Rafael, SM Land senior vice president and head of the commercial properties group.

SM Land has captured a substantial share of BPO businesses with its OneE-comCenter and TwoE-comCenter developments in MOAC. It also developed build-to-suit BPO offices such as the two SM Cyber Makati buildings along Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. and the SM Cyber Baguio.

“Our value proposition strongly remains to be value-for-money office solutions—the functionality and prestige of a central business district address, at costs not usually associated with such,” said Rafael.

SM Land has developed a niche in the local office leasing market by offering expansive buildings in prime locations.

Large, column-less floor plates or “megafloors” are vital to BPOs and call center operations to maximize space and accommodate flexible workstation permutations, explaied Rafael. “This also increases efficiency, minimizing the use of elevators,” he added. In traditional office buildings, BPO tenants would usually occupy multiple regular-sized floors.