The biggest mall owners and developers of the Philippines is the SM Prime Holdings. They are the ones who own and developed the SM Mall of Asia which is the third largest in all of Asia. The Mall of Asia ranks as the World’s 4th largest mall having approximately 390,000 square meters by 407,101 square meters in total area. It is located near the Manila Bay and SM Central Park at Pasay City of the Philippines. With its large size come also a large number of people visiting it every day with an average of 200,000. The Mall of Asia is the Philippine’s largest mall until in 2006 when it became the 2nd after the SM City North EDSA’s redevelopment.
The Mall has a vicinity of 19.5 hectares of land with 390,194 square meters of floor area. It has four buildings with walkways interconnecting them. These building consist mainly of the parking buildings (one in the north and another at the south), the entertainment and the main mall. The latter mall then consists of shopping establishments and restaurants including the food court. The entertainment mall on the other hand is mostly made up of two-story complexes usually open-air. It is built facing the Manila Bay. Finally the north and south parking buildings are designated on the south and northern areas of the Mall. The south is located at the Department Store while the North at the SM Hypermarket. Each building has 2,500 parking spaces. Visitors of the Mall of Asia are welcomed by a large globe made of framed steel with an LED display of a Globamaze.
The mall consists of branches of stores which are mostly found in other SM Malls.Aside from that MOA also has 4 other theaters of various kinds. The Director’s Club Theater is used for intimate screenings. The Premiere and CenterStage Cinemas on the other hand is utilized to facilitate live concerts and theatricals. But the San Miguel-Coca-Cola IMAX theatre is the biggest theater in the Mall and is also considered one of the tops in the world.
Another one of the attractions that MOA has is its large skating rink which has an Olympic size of 60x30 meters. Visitors could also enroll at training programs for figure skating and hockey. In 2007 SkateAsia competitions was held at the MOA which was a first in the history of Philippines to host an international event. Aside from these competitions the music hall beside the sea has also hosted singing competitions and concerts.
The Mall of Asia has so many features coming along with its great size. What makes it unique from other malls is that it has a tram which could accommodate 20 people. It also has a Ferry Terminal which saves tourists an hour of time going to Cavite. Other famous attraction of the mall is the SM by the Bay beside the sea (which used to be a place called the Baywalk), the SMX Convention Center (largest in the Philippines) and the MOA Asia Arena which is located at the MOA complex.
