Information about Mall of Asia

SM Mall of Asia, also abbreviated as SM MoA or simply MoA, is a large shopping mall in Bay City, Pasay, Philippines, near the SM Central Business Park, the Manila Bay, and the southern end of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA).

Owned and developed by SM Prime Holdings, the largest mall chain owner and developer in the Philippines, it has a land area of 67 hectares (170 acres), a gross floor area of approximately 432,891 m2 (4,659,600 sq ft), and offers 46,647 m2 (502,100 sq ft) for conventions and social functions. The area attracts a daily average foot traffic of about 200,000 people.It is currently the fourth largest shopping mall in the Philippines and the fourteenth in the world. When it opened in 2006 it was the largest shopping mall in the Philippines until SM City North EDSA was redeveloped in 2008, and was relegated to third place by the expansion of SM Megamall from 2011 to 2015 when SM Seaside City Cebu opened to the public before returning to this spot in 2017.Following the mall's opening in 2006, it caused several smaller shopping malls nearby to close, such as Pearl Plaza and Uniwide Coastal Mall both in Paranaque.

Construction

The mall is the centerpiece project of SM Prime at the SM Central Business Park, where five one-story buildings serve as the company's corporate offices (the sixth building being occupied by TeleTech Holdings, Inc. as their flagship site in the country).

The SM Mall of Asia's design team includes Arquitectonica, design architect; Architect Robert Carag Ong, Architect of Record, GHT Services, project manager, and Hilmarc's Construction Corp. (for the South Parking Building, Main Mall, and Entertainment Mall), and Monolith Construction Development Corp. (for the North Parking Building), general contractors.The mall would have opened before Christmas Day of 2005 but had been delayed due to hitches in the delivery of construction materials. Frequent rains in the last quarter of 2005 also delayed the turnover of mall space to tenants. SM Prime decided to move the opening date to March 3, 2006.On February 27, 2006, local newspaper Manila Standard Today reported that a team of Pasay City engineers found huge cracks underneath the structure, which was causing the structure to vibrate. When questioned about the inspection, the Pasay City Engineering Department denied making any statement regarding defects in the Mall of Asia. Engineer Edwin Javaluyas, Pasay City engineering officer, in his letter to SM Prime Holdings Inc., said he never stated that the city hall's engineering department inspected the Mall of Asia on February 23, 2006.SM Prime, however, decided to move the opening to May 21 of that year. Jeffrey Lim, corporate information officer of SM Prime Holdings, emphasized that a rescheduling of the mall's opening was made to give the company an opportunity to allow more tenants to open shops and denied that the change was due to structural defects.The mall was officially inaugurated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with a special screening of Everest in the San Miguel Coca-Cola IMAX Theater. The movie was shown three days after Philippine tri-athlete Leo Oracion reached the treacherous mountain's summit.

Layout

The Mall of Asia consists of four buildings interconnected by walkways; the Main Mall, the Entertainment Mall, and the North and South Parking Buildings.

The Main Mall includes shopping and dining establishments and the food court. The Entertainment Mall is a two-story complex, most of which is open-air, and faces Manila Bay. Both have concierge desks.The mall's 5,000 parking spaces are divided across two, six-story parking buildings conveniently designated the North and South Parking Buildings, which have been covered with a solar rooftop. The South Parking Building houses the mall's official The SM Store, while the mall's supermarket, the SM Hypermarket is located at the North Parking Building. These parking buildings are equipped with elevators and escalators (since 2016) which allows fast access to parking levels.

Since its opening in 2006, visitors to the mall have been welcomed by large steel framed globe on a roundabout at the southern tip of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue. In 2009, the globe was turned into Globamaze, an LED display.

Features

The mall includes branches of all of the standard anchor stores found in most of the SM Supermalls. The first-ever branch of Taste Asia, one of the SM Supermalls' food court brands, is located right outside the mall's supermarket, the sprawling SM Hypermarket.The mall's open-air music hall directly facing the sea has also held several events, contests, and concerts.The mall also provides office space. Dell International Services, a subsidiary of Dell, Inc. once occupied a 13,470.5-square meter area at the second floor of the North Parking Building of the mall. Until 2015, Teleperformance took over that space. Currently, It has been replaced by the mall anchor Cyberzone for IT-related shops, one of the biggest since SM North EDSA.

MoA Food Hall

Opened on February 12, 2020, the new Food Hall in the 3rd Level (across SM Skating) replaces the former SM Foodcourt, which features budget to upscale dining choices.

SM Cinema

The mall features a total of 16 cinemas with 11 regular cinemas (including Center Stage Cinema), three Director's Club Cinemas, one Event Cinema, and one IMAX Theater. It originally featured a total of 10 cinemas, with six regular cinemas, Director's Club Cinema for intimate screenings (30 La-Z-Boy seats), Premier Cinema, CenterStage which can use for live musical concerts and theatrical performances, and an IMAX theater.

IMAX

One of the mall's main attractions is the first ever and the largest IMAX theater in the country. The San Miguel-Coca-Cola IMAX Theatre is one of the world's biggest IMAX screens in 3D including 2D screenings. It was originally a traditional film projector that uses its 15/70 mm film format, IMAX GT (Grand Theatre). The IMAX Theater was closed on October 11, 2013 for digital conversion, and re-opened on October 30, 2013 along with the release of Thor: The Dark World. On November 6, 2014, the old traditional 70mm IMAX projector was used for Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. In July 2017, the main lobby was temporarily closed for renovation (where the XD Cinema is going to be demolished), and its lobby was temporarily moved at the second floor in front of Cinemas 7 and 8, the main lobby re-opened on December 11, 2018, upon the launch of Event Cinema and the Asian premiere screening of Aquaman where its star Jason Momoa has arrived in the country; however, its temporary lobby is closed being used as offices for cinema personnel and as an emergency fire exit. On August 18, 2019, the IMAX Theater was closed for renovation and re-opened on October 29, 2019, with updated interiors and new comfortable seating.

Expansion and redevelopment

Additional cinemas were opened in the mall since 2016. Two digital theaters (C7 and C8) were opened at the north side of the entertainment mall in December 2016. The Event Cinema was opened on December 12, 2018 and located at the newly renovated IMAX theater lobby, which is perfect for birthday parties, corporate events, and seminars, and it can house up to 45 people.

Half of the original cinema area (including Cinemas 4–6, Director's Club and Premier Cinema) was closed on August 22, 2018 after the celebration of the 2nd Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino and were demolished for renovation as part of the mall expansion, New Cinemas 1-5 re-opened on soft opening in December 2019 along with the limited-early release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, while the other remaining cinemas, the three Director's Club Cinemas equipped with Dolby Atmos and laser projector were re-opened on its grand re-launch on January 22, 2020 at the former space of Premier Cinema, the films were first shown in these newly renovated cinemas are Underwater and two Will Smith films, Bad Boys for Life and Spies in Disguise. Cinemas 9-11, which are former Cinemas 1-3 remained in temporary operations after the re-opening of the renovated theaters. The former space of the Director's Club Cinema is now occupied by SM's Surplus Shop.

Sporting and event venues

Mall of Asia Arena

The Mall of Asia Arena is an indoor arena within the SM Mall of Asia complex which has a seating capacity of 16,000 and a full house capacity of 20,000, which opened to the public on June 16, 2012. The arena is the alternative venue of the Philippine Basketball Association and the main venue of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines.

SM Skating Rink

The mall features the Philippines' first Olympic-sized ice skating rink which is located on the third level of the mall's main building. It covers an area of 1,800 square meters (19,000 sq ft) and has a spectators area which can seat up to 200 people and accommodate up to 300 people.An older ice skating rink was one of the main features of the SM Mall of Asia at the time of its inauguration in 2006. Its opening followed the closure of the old skating rink at the SM Megamall which was built in 1992. Another skating rink eventually opened at the SM Megamall in 2014. The older ice skating rink at the SM Mall of Asia was situated at the ground level of the mall's main building. The current skating rink opened in 2017.Several ice skating competitions have been held at the mall's ice skating rink such as the Skate Asia 2007, the first time an international competition at that scale was held in the Philippines. The ice hockey competition of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games was also held in the venue.

Concert grounds

The Mall of Asia concert grounds, also called the Mall of Asia parking grounds when there is no event, are public spaces located west of the E-com Center buildings that are used to hold mass gatherings, primarily concerts. When there is no event, the venue is used as a parking lot to accommodate employees of the E-com Center buildings, as well as mall guests. The concert grounds comprise two complex blocks: one that can accommodate about 30,000 persons, and another that will bring the capacity to about 80,000.The venue was the site of the Close-Up Forever Summer concert tragedy that occurred in May 2016.Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines which led cinemas to be closed since March 2020, SM Cinema opened up a drive-in cinema at this venue on September 9, 2020. It is the second drive-in-cinema in the country after SM City Pampanga.

SMX Convention Center anila

The SMX Convention Center (formerly Maitrade Expo and Convention Center) (Project Name: MAITrade) is the Philippines' largest privately run exhibition and convention center. The 46,647-square meter building will have three floors and basement parking with a total leasable area of 19,800 square meters featuring large exhibition areas and function rooms. The convention center can fit approximately 6,000 people.

The groundbreaking was held on March 23, 2006. The ₱900 million project was completed and inaugurated on November 5, 2007. It is used as an alternate with the nearby state-run Philippine International Convention Center and World Trade Center Metro Manila located in the CCP Complex.

The 46,647-square-meter (502,100 sq ft) building is composed of three floors and a basement parking with a total leasable area of 19,800 square meters (213,000 sq ft) square meters. The Architect, Arch. Jose Siao Ling, designed the structure maximizing the use of space, giving exhibitors flexibility, and options in terms of their specific area requirements. The exhibition area at the ground level will have a floor area of 9,000 square meters (97,000 sq ft), which can be divided into four halls. Commercial shops will be located along the perimeter. A gridgeway on the second level will connect SMX Convention Center to the mall's south parking building. The third level will have a total floor area of 8,730 square meters (94,000 sq ft), which can be divided into six halls for functions and conventions, along with nine meeting rooms.

Esplanade

An esplanade was constructed at the back of the mall where it served as the observation center for the First World Pyro Olympics in December 2005. The second World Pyro Olympics were held at the SM Mall of Asia's boardwalk area in early January, 2007.The Esplanade was also the venue for Lovapalooza 2, wherein more than 5,300 couples kissed for 10 seconds on February 10, 2007, breaking Hungary's 4,445 in the Guinness World Records. Also, an events venue named One Esplanade was constructed here. One Esplanade is usually used for product launches, parties, and other events.

SM By the Bay Amusement Park is an amusement park situated along Manila Bay that opened to the public in 2011. The park currently has over 17 rides including the Mall of Asia Eye (a.k.a. The Eye Of Asia) a 55-meter (180 ft) tall ferris wheel which opened on December 18, 2011. It has 36 air-conditioned gondolas, each able to carry up to six persons, giving a maximum capacity of 216 passengers. The Area also houses food stalls and offers a direct view to the Manila Bay.

Mall of Asia Annex Building

The Mall of Asia Annex (MAAX) Building is a 12-storey office building, and is currently occupied by SM Supermarket, which opened on March 24, 2019 and it is located at the ground floor Building, National University MOA, SM Prime, the Philippine Skating Union, and Teleperformance.The Food Village is a food court complex located within the building.

Conrad Manila

The Mall of Asia Complex also host the Conrad Manila, a hotel. Its podium houses the S Maison, a retail area and the Dessert Museum, a candy-themed art exhibition. The S Maison is considered by SM Prime Holdings a separate mall from the main SM Mall of Asia shopping mall complex and is designated as the 62nd SM Supermall in the Philippines.

Office buildings

The SM Mall of Asia complex hosts the E-com Center, an office building complex which houses mainly business process outsourcing and shipping firms. The buildings are designed by international firm Arquitectonica and Architect Felix Lim. It is divided into five smaller centers, namely: One E-Com Center, Two E-Com Center, Three E-Com Center, Four E-Com Center, and Five E-Com Center. The sixth tower, the Six E-com Center, is currently being planned. The buildings are connected to the main mall via elevated pedestrian bridgeway on the second level, and all buildings also features an open-air podium located in the fourth floor of each building.

The groundbreaking for the first building, the One E-Com Center began in March 2006. The building was completed in the first week of October 2007. Its first occupant, Fitness First opened its doors on October 12, 2007, other occupants include APL, Damco Philippines Inc., and Conduent.

The Two E-com Center is a 15-storey twin tower. Completed in 2011, The building primarily houses SM Development Corporation, Ben Line Agencies Philippines, Inc., EXL Service, and other outsourcing and shipping companies.

In 2018, the Three E-Com Center was launched and opened. The Three E-Com Center consists of two 15-storey semi-circular towers while the Four E-Com Center consists of three 15-storey towers with a crystal-like design. Occupants of the Three E-com Center includes Alorica, Bangkok Bank, and Amazon. The Four E-Com Center was topped-off in 2019, and is expected to be completed within 2021.

The Five E-Com Center houses the contact centers and non-contact center tenants of Telstra, Tupperware Brands, PTT Petroleum, and TeleTech.

Residential condominiums

The Mall of Asia has four residential condominium properties from SM Development Corporation (SMDC), which include Sea Residences, Shell Residences, Shore Residences which has 3 residential condominiums (Shore, Shore 2 and Shore 3), and The S Residences.

Mall expansion and redevelopments

The SM Mall of Asia is undergoing an ₱ 1.5 Billion expansion project featuring new expansion areas for retail establishments and new indoor and outdoor amenities, including a football field and the installation of roof solar panels at the mall.

Main Mall complex

A new 2-level expansion will be built at the top of the main mall which is now currently undergoing construction and is expected to be fully complete by 2022. The expansion wings will connect to the mall carpark buildings.

The new expansion will feature a football pitch with grandstand, botanical gardens, and parks at the mall's 4th level roofdeck plus all-new shops and restaurants at the mall's third, and fourth levels. It will be built in phases. The first phase will feature the new Olympic-sized Ice Skating Rink and a Food Hall (replacing the old Foodcourt) on the 3rd Floor along with more new shops and restaurants. Both of the new features, the mall's ice skating rink and most recently, the MoA Food Hall, were completed in 2017 and February 2020 respectively. Construction of the expansion wings will soon reach the front side of the mall as major tenants in that side will be temporarily closed/relocated.

A new wing connecting The Galeon Museum and the north side of Entertainment Mall was opened which features restaurants in the ground floor and the new Cinemas 7 and 8 in the 2nd floor.

The estimated Gross Floor Area of the expansion project would be 650,000 m2 (6,996,541.8 sq ft), upon full completion.

The Galeón museum

Soft opened on August 8, 2017, The Galeón is a dome-shaped museum that will feature the history of the Galleon Trade, which in 250 years, the Philippines and Mexico played major roles during the period. The main attraction will be the Galleon ship which is used for trading.The grand opening has been delayed for some time and the entrance to the museum is now occupied by various restaurants.

Tryp by Windham Manila

The Tryp Manila, owned by Windham, is located beside The Esplanade, completed in 2018. It is the second hotel located in the complex after Conrad Manila, but offers lower rates and features 191 rooms and 3 restaurants, namely the Milagritos, the Encaramada pool bar, and the Beberitos lobby lounge.

MoA Square

Internally named as Scandi (short for Scandinavia), it will house IKEA's largest store in the world with a floor space of 65,000 m2 (700,000 sq ft). An in-house contact center and additional parking spaces will also be built in the new building. The building will be located between the mall's South Parking Building / The SM Store and the SMX Convention Center.

Former features

The Exploreum

The Exploreum was a science and technology museum within the main SM Mall of Asia shopping mall complex. A ₱313 million joint venture between SM Prime Holdings and United-States-based Leisure Entertainment Consultancy (LEC), it opened in 2007, as the SM Science Discovery Center. it features a digital planetarium and a wide range of technology and science-themed exhibits. At the time of its opening, the two-level science center covered an area of 3,200 square meters (34,000 sq ft). It also featured the Digistar Planetarium housed within a 16 meters (52 ft) tall dome which was designed by Evans & Sutherland.In 2009, it was renamed into Nido Fortified Science Discovery Center after being bought by Nestlé Philippines.

In 2014, Nido Fortified Science Discovery Center was rebranded to The Exploreum, Which features 118 new interactive exhibits and over 100 non-interactive exhibits in eight major interactive galleries namely the Natural World, Human Adventure, Zoom, Connect, Cyberville, Space Camp, the Living Earth, and Science Park.

Exploreum was closed in 2017 due to unknown reasons and the former area has been closed as a part of the mall expansion.

XD Cinema

The XD Cinema is a 4D theater located at the IMAX lobby at the ground floor, opened on November 25, 2014 on soft opening equipped with strategically located 48 pneumatic controlled seats that highlight the immersive nature of the theater while maintaining an exclusive ambiance to delight the audience, it has enormous in-theatre effects including snow, wind, water, scent, fog, and strobe/lightings. It also has leg tickler, motion seats, seat vibrators, and seat impactors to add a breathtaking fourth dimension experience. The first local film to be shown in this theater is Feng Shui 2 starring Kris Aquino and Coco Martin.The XD Cinema was closed in April 2017 for ongoing renovation works of the IMAX lobby.

Premier Cinema

Premier Cinema was closed on August 22, 2018 for renovation works and was now occupied by three Director's Club Cinemas.

Transport

The mall features a 20-seater tram service providing connectivity within the mall complex, and also features a transport terminal, providing transportation services to nearby areas in Metro Manila, and nearby Cavite and Batangas provinces.

Adjacent to the convention center is the MetroStar Ferry Terminal ferry service to Cavite City. The terminal also serves as a passenger port to SM's tourism estate, the Hamilo Coast, in Nasugbu, Batangas.In 2007, Philippine Export-Import Credit Agency (PhilEXIM) inaugurated the ₱135 million ferry project between Cavite City and SM Mall of Asia. PhilEXIM President Virgilio R. Angelo stated that it guaranteed the loan of Metrostar Ferry, Inc. (Metrostar) for the government's Manila Bay Transport Project. Angelo stated that the ferry service would also open in the Cavite City-Luneta Boardwalk-Del Pan Bridge waterway. A ferry service is also inaugurated connecting SM Mall of Asia to the Bataan province.

A ferry service which will bring passengers to and from the upcoming Sangley Airport is being proposed.

Incidents and accidents

September 15, 2013: An 11-year-old boy was hurt when the ceiling of a mall's portion was damaged. The mall management said the damage of a portion of the mall's South Arcade ceiling was "due to rains and strong winds."

March 30, 2014: A holdup and shootout occurred when the Martilyo Gang, a local criminal group specializing in robbing stores by smashing and stealing valuables using hammers, robbed a jewelry store using pipe wrenches instead of hammers in the department store on the first floor. One suspect was arrested during the incident.

May 22, 2016: Five people died after taking alleged illegal drugs during a rave dance party organized by Close-Up entitled Forever Summer, which was headlined by Belgian DJ duo Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike at the concert grounds.

October 2, 2018: A ceiling at the second level of the main mall fell down in the midst of heavy rain on Tuesday afternoon, causing rainwater to runoff in front of a beauty shop. This was posted on Facebook through video by Cherry Mae Bernas. No one was hurt during the incident.

December 8, 2018: Some unruly concertgoers forced the cancellation of the Coke Studios Christmas Concert at the mall's concert grounds the previous night. Coca-Cola in a statement said there was "pushing, jumping on the barricades and throwing bottles" by "portions" that threatened the safety of the entire crowd at the concert. Police on the next day said some 50 people were attended to by rescuers either for fainting or sustaining bruises. The concert would be rescheduled for the next year.

Viral hoax message

On January 13, 2020, the mall complex management belied a circulating online message claiming that buildings there were prone to collapse after Taal Volcano's eruption. According to their statement posted on their Facebook page, it said that the vast complex was "built on concrete piles that reach the bedrock and will withstand extreme situations". "The statement where water will make the building collapse is patently false".

On November 12 2020, a cargo vessel struck the seawall of a mall in Pasay on Thursday morning after as the waters off Manila Bay swelled due to the heavy rains and violent winds brought about by Typhoon Ulysses.

Events

GMA Network held its New Year countdown special at the mall's bayside area since 2008.

The Grand Mascot Parade was held every New Year's Day.

The Philippine International Pyromusical Competition was held every year at the mall's bayside area since 2010 (except for the 10th edition in 2019, which happened in SM City Clark, in supporting the Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources), which was known as World Pyro Olympics since 2005.

In September 2019, LIGA2: KONTRABIDA, a Mobile Legends: Bang Bang event was hosted at Music Hall with Nadine Lustre as ambassador.

Content is taken from Wikipedia