The battle for mall supremacy in the country heats up as Gokongwei-led property giant Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) gears up to unleash its own massive makeover of its shopping centers.
RLC president and CEO Mybelle Aragon-GoBio said the company is preparing to undertake a major mall redevelopment program, which is expected to be announced within the year.
‘We’re just finalizing the costings. Certainly, the more mature ones or flagship malls will be undergoing redevelopment. Watch out for it. It will be big,’ Aragon-GoBio said.
‘This will be the first of such a scale that we will be announcing. First, we intend to do one that’s of a significant scale, and then, in line with the premiumization, it will be a continuous one,’ she said.
Aragon-GoBio said the plan may entail expansion as well as a refresh of existing malls.
‘Where there is an opportunity to increase gross leasable area (GLA), then we do so. So that’s an expansion,’ Aragon-GoBio said.
‘Otherwise, it’s a redevelopment so that we’re able to command better rates. It’s also because consumer preferences are evolving. So they’re becoming more discriminating. They’re looking for more experiential offerings. So that’s what we’re trying to address through premiumization,’ she said.
RLC, the country’s second-largest mall operator, expanded its retail footprint in Mindanao with the opening last April of Robinsons Pagadian, its 56th shopping mall in the country.
Under its Vision 5-25-50 roadmap, which aims to deliver P25 billion in net income by its 50th anniversary in 2030, RLC targets bringing its mall network to 69 and increasing mall GLA by 50 percent.
Aragon-GoBio said that RLC is also keen on putting up more upscale malls following the success of Opus in Bridgetowne estate.
Since its launch in July 2024, Opus has quickly emerged as Metro Manila’s premier destination for luxury, leisure and lifestyle.
The mall features over 148,000 square meters of curated spaces across five levels.
International dining icons like St. Ali, Il Lupino Prime and Dave and Buster’s have chosen Opus for their Philippine debut.
‘We will be upgrading our existing commercial offerings. So be it new-the new malls will have better deliverables, better specifications, better tenant mixes as well. But then also, we’ll be redeveloping certain flagship malls,’ Aragon-GoBio said.
Other major developers are also aggressively renovating their existing malls.
In 2024, Ayala Land of the Zobel family decided to embark on a massive P13-billion redevelopment of its flagship malls. This initiative will see its four iconic shopping centers – Glorietta, Greenbelt, TriNoma and Ayala Center Cebu – reinvented to cater to evolving consumer preferences.
The company also announced that it is spending an additional P4.5 billion to redevelop four more malls – Ayala Malls Abreeza, Ayala Malls Cloverleaf, Ayala Malls Fairview Terraces and MarQuee Mall.
The redevelopment is expected to unleash the full potential of Ayala Malls’ retail space as well as enhance areas for convergence and create spaces that challenge retailers to bring their best to the Filipino consumer.
SM Supermalls of the Sy family, for its part, aims to maintain its position as the country’s largest mall developer by implementing an aggressive expansion and redevelopment program over the next five years.
SM is investing over P150 billion in 16 major redevelopments and 12 new lifestyle malls to ensure that its entire portfolio evolves into greener, smarter and more people-centered destinations by 2030.
Megaworld Corp. is also growing its leasing business by bringing its signature lifestyle mall concept to more locations, while introducing new experiences that resonate with today’s consumers.
Megaworld Lifestyle Malls will open malls and commercial projects this year at McKinley West in Taguig, Makati, Alabang West in Las Piñas and Boracay Newcoast in Aklan.