CityMall Commercial Centers Inc., a joint venture between DoubleDragon Properties Corp. and SM Investments Corp., won lease contracts worth P4.97 billion in several CityMall sites across the country.
DoubleDragon said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the 10-year contacts involved the lease of an additional 22 SM Savemore Supermarkets in CityMall scheduled for opening this year.
“The signing of another 22 SM Savemore Supermarkets to locate in our soon-to-open CityMalls is a testament to the value of what CityMall is providing to modern retail brands and the relevance of the platform we provide in their expansion into the next frontier of retail,” DoubleDragon chief investment officer Hannah Yulo said.
Twenty eight CityMalls are in operations with an average occupancy rate of over 95 percent as of the first quarter of 2018.
“We now have 28 operational malls, plus the 22 more malls slated for completion this year, we are in line with our goal of having 50 completed malls by the end of this year,” DoubleDragon chairman Edgar Sia II said.
DoubleDragon expects to generate at least P20 billion in rental income during the first 10 years of operations once the target 100 CityMalls is completed.
“For the past three years, DoubleDragon has already planted the seeds and necessary groundwork that will enable the company to play a major role in this retail transformation as we continue to expand in what will essentially be the most important market one day as e-commerce continues to disrupt the urban market,” Sia said.
“The business model of CityMall is positioned to remain relevant beyond the age of digitalization because we focus on delivering only basic necessities, and generally, the supermarket, cinema, services and food tenants combined occupy more than 70 percent of a typical CityMall. CityMalls are also conveniently located in provincial city centers within close reach of its market.” he added.
DoubleDragon earlier aimed to accumulate 1.2 million square meters of leasable space by 2020 in line with its goal of having 90 percent of revenues from diversified recurring revenue sources, backed by a string of appreciating hard assets.