BACOLOD CITY  –  The three-storey annex of the SM City Bacolod North Wing will be unveiled in April this year, its management announced over the weekend.

The department store will be relocated to the annex as part of the mall’s Phase 1 expansion.

Mall manager George Anthony Jardiolin, who hosted a media night for the Negros Press Club and Negros Bloggers Saturday, said the Phase 2 of their ongoing expansion will allow the North Wing to accommodate more shops and restaurants.

“As our SM Prime Holdings president, Hans Sy, said of the Bacolod expansion, this is SM Prime’s way of paying tribute to the residents of Bacolod City and of nearby areas,” Jardiolin said.

He added they want to offer a premiere destination mall that is highly viable for business and leisure.

Jardiolin said the Event Centre, also situated at the North Wing, will make way for temporary locations of the stores that will be affected by the expansion project.

“This is of, course temporary and we will still continue bringing in events and programs for the mall-going public to enjoy their stay at SM,” he added.

Mall operator SM Prime Holdings Inc. has allocated P1.4 billion for the two-phase expansion project.

The new department store, which has an area of about 27,000 square meters, is part of the 102,043-square meter ground floor area allocated for the expansion project.

The SM City Bacolod annex building ground floor area of 102,043 square meters will increase the mall’s ground floor size to 171,380. The annex will also offer a gross leasable area of 81,204 square meters.*NLG