SM City Baguio

SM City Baguio is an enclosed shopping mall located at the former Pines Hotel in the City of Baguio in the Philippines. At a floor area of 160,000 m2 (1,700,000 sq ft), it is the largest shopping mall in the whole North Luzon Region. The entire complex stands on a land area of 80,000 m2 (860,000 sq ft) on Luneta Hill on top of Session Road overlooking historic Burnham Park and opposite Baguio's City Hall which is situated on a northern hill.[1]

SM City Baguio
The facade of SM City Baguio in January 2017 with the aftermath of Typhoon Lawin seen of its roof
LocationBaguio, Philippines
Coordinates16°24′32″N 120°35′57″E
AddressLuneta Hill, Upper Session Road
Opening dateNovember 21, 2003
DeveloperSM Prime Holdings
ManagementSM Prime Holdings
ArchitectJose Siao Ling and Associates
No. of stores and services300+
No. of anchor tenants15
Total retail floor area160,000 m2 (1,700,000 sq ft)
No. of floorsMain Mall: 6
North Terraces: 2
Sunset Terraces:4
Carpark Annex: 5
Parking2000++ (2003)
WebsiteSM City Baguio Website

The mall was formally opened on November 21, 2003. It is also the first SM Supermall which does not use an air-conditioning system upon its completion. The mall is the only SM Mall, other than the SM Mall of Asia, that make use of natural lighting and which does not have an air conditioned common area.[2][3] The site of the mall was once occupied by the Pines Hotel, which burned down.

History
View of SM City Baguio from Burnham Park

Acquisition of the lot

The lot at Luneta Hill where SM City Baguio stands was formerly occupied by Resort Hotel Corporation's Pines Hotel. In 1988, SM won an auction by the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) over the lot reportedly for only ₱2,000 per square meter. DBP earlier foreclosed the property in 1984 after the hotel building was burned down few years earlier. Resort Hotel defaulted in a ₱114 million loan with businessman Rodolfo Cuenca mortgaging using the Pines Hotel property, the Taal Vista and the Mindanao Hotel in Cagayan de Oro,[4]

Cuenca of Resort Hotel and John Gokongwei of Robinsons Investment Corporation sued the DBP in 1990 in a bid to block the sale of the lot to SM.In 1992, Councilor Frederico Mandapat filed a resolution, objecting the sale of the lot, noting the objection of the two companies. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources processed the sale. Mandapat asserted the city's claim over 2,000 square metres (22,000 sq ft) portion of the lot where a city library was originally put up by the city government.[4]

Launching and dormancy

A project to build an SM Supermall in Baguio was launched as early as 1995 by SM magnate Henry Sy and then President Fidel V. Ramos but such plans remain dormant until April 2001. Sy placed the Baguio plan on hold and focus on making business ventures in Cebu City. However it was reported in 2001, that Sy may be pursuing to build a hotel instead of a shopping mall. Sy's original plan was to build a hotel at the lot which Sy earlier bought, formerly occupied by the Pines Hotel and a separate shopping mall in an open lot owned by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). The two facilities would have been connected by a 50 metres (160 ft) covered overpass. Sy did not push through its bid to acquire the concerned lot owned by the GSIS.[5]

Construction and Opening
The Sunset Terraces opened in 2019, followed by the Upper Ground floor and the Second floor of the Annex which opened in mid-February

In 2001, construction of the lot commenced despite dispute regarding the status of the lot where SM City Baguio would later stand.[4]

A shopping mall was built on the lot formerly occupied by Pines Hotel instead of a hotel as earlier reported. On November 21, 2003, SM City Baguio was opened to the public.[6]

In October 2012, the Department of Foreign Affairs opened the 384-square-metre (4,130 sq ft) DFA Co Baguio, the first and only passport office in the Cordillera region at the mall's upper basement level.[7]

The expansion of the carpark, which has 600+ slots occupying five levels, opened in October 2019. The North Terrace opened on late May 2019 while the lower ground level of the Sunset Terraces opened on December 14, 2019. It added 50+ shops including anchor tenants Like National Book Store Located at the North Terraces which opened on Mid - May 2019, While H&M & Uniqlo located at the Main Mall which opened on November 29, 2019. The upper ground and second levels of the Sunset Terraces opened on February 21, 2020. More stores and restaurants opened on the upper ground and second levels, stores like Mac Cosmetics, Levi, Bata, At Tokyo, Cliniqe, Fully Booked and more. Restaurants like Nanyang, Mesa, Mango Tree Cafe, Cabalen, Starbucks Reserve and many more. More restaurants and shops are opening soon (as of April) at the Annex.

Architecture and design

The design of the mall was inspired by the Cordilleran design such as their terraces inspired veranda inspired by the Banaue Rice Terraces. Design International, a foreign-based firm served as design consultants, Jose Siao Ling and Associates were the architecture firm behind the mall. New Golden City serves as general contractors while DA Abcede and Associates with SM's own engineering group were also involved in the project. Its atrium is also for natural ventilation and the mall utilizes recycled water. The mall stands on a 79,763 square metres (858,560 sq ft) lot. Upon its opening, it six levels with 106,231 square metres (1,143,460 sq ft) of retail space and parking slots for 800 vehicles.[6]

Cutting of Trees

About more than 5,000 people had a protest in Session Road to protest against the mall expansion on January 20, 2012, which includes a plan to remove more than 100 pine trees on Luneta Hill.

The protest, dubbed “Occupy SM Baguio” was organized against the mall's expansion plan to build a multi-level parking lot and entertainment plaza on the lot where the pine trees are located. [8]

On April 2012, the mall management's workers has uprooted about 8 trees from the said location to pave the way for the mall's expansion there, protesters said. Workers began the earth-balling of the trees at about 10:00 pm on April 9, according to Baguio residents on Twitter.

Multisectoral groups joined the protest even as to sign a petition to stop the Department of Environment and Natural Resources permit that allows the SM Group to cut or earthball the pine trees went online. There is also an edited picture using a scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, with the phrase "We Cut it All For You!", depicting the cutting of the pine trees.[9]

On April 13, 2012, environmental activists "occupied" SM City North EDSA, but they were dispersed violently, with the sound system playing the tune of Bad Meets Evil's song, Lighters featuring Bruno Mars. The environmental political party Kalikasan Partylist condemned the violent dispersal by the mall's security guards. Due to the incident happened, a protester's cellphone was damaged, and some protesters were partially wounded, and their sound system was damaged.[10][11][12]

Protesters held a lightning rally in SM Megamall on the same day. Mall guards attempted to disperse the rally but some of the protesters chanted, "Don't cut the trees!" The rally started as a silent action staged at various points inside the mall area. The protesters were divided into 6 groups and wore T-shirts bearing assigned words so that when they converge, they form a "walking call" like "Leave me alone, I'm pine!" and "Cut your greed, not the trees!". But a group of mall security guards escorted the protesters out of the mall. At least 2 were temporarily held in the mall's security office, and they were eventually released.[10]

The issue of the mall expansion about the earth-balling of Pine Trees led British singer-songwriter Sting to move his Back to Bass Tour scheduled on December 9, 2012 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City to the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Sting had asked for the transfer after receiving a letter-addressed to a certain Alica, said to be his US representative written by Minnesota-based lawyer Cheryl L. Daytec-Yangot, a founding member of the National Union of People's Lawyer ( NUPL) in the Philippines and was one of the lead lawyers in two environmental cases filed against SM investment Corp. and SM Prime Holdings due to its plan to cut 182 fully grown trees to expand the mall.

In the latter, Yangot stated that an online petition on Facebook is circulating, asking Sting to change his Manila concert venue, because the MOA Arena is owned by the SM group which Project Save 182 had sued because of the mall expansion.

Developments at the mall have led to cutting of trees at Luneta Hill 60 of which are cut only by January 17, 2015 and 40 more cut by January 2012. Students from different universities such as Saint Louis University (Philippines) and University of Baguio have criticized the company.[13] On April 10, 2019, SM has been permanently banned by the Supreme Court from cutting and earth balling of trees at Luneta Hill.[14][15]

gollark: No.
gollark: I mean, in Haskell you could kind of do almost-decorators by making an `@` operator.
gollark: T Y P E C L A S S E S
gollark: Haskell does that better.
gollark: Oh please. Implement the nice haskell space-for-function call syntax and get back to me.

References
  1. Pedroso, Kate (2007-12-02). "Figure it out". Sunday Inquirer Magazine. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
  2. Salazar, Tessa (2007-12-02). "More to malls than just merchandise". Lifestyle. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
  3. Pulumbarit, Oliver (2008-04-11). "Chilling out in breezy Baguio". You: Super. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
  4. Cabreza, Vincent (8 March 2004). "City stakes claim over SM Baguio lot". Philippine Daily Inquirer. PDI Northern Luzon Bureau. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  5. Cabreza, Vincent (25 July 2001). "SM to push through with Baguio project". Philippine Daily Inquirer. PDI Northern Luzon Bureau. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  6. "Taipan takes his mall design out of the box". Philippine Daily Inquirer. 30 November 2003. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  7. Padilla, Karen (30 September 2012). "DFA opens consular office at SM City Baguio on Oct 2". Baguio Midland Courier. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  8. "Thousands join rally against SM Baguio". GMA News.
  9. "SM uproots trees in Baguio, triggers protests". Rappler.
  10. "Protesters 'occupy' SM Megamall". Rappler.
  11. "Occupy SM North EDSA marred with violence".
  12. "24oras: Grupo ng militanteng kabataan, nag-rally sa harap ng SM North Edsa".
  13. KIMBERLIE NGABIT-QUITASO; ROCKY NGALOB (January 27, 2015). "SM's tree cutting draws ire from Baguio residents". BULATLAT.
  14. "SC bans tree cutting at mall's expansion site". SunStar Publishing Inc. April 11, 2019.
  15. "SC orders permanent stop to cutting of trees for SM Baguio expansion". BusinessWorld. April 10, 2019.
Preceded by
SM City Lucena		 16th SM Supermall
2003		 Succeeded by
SM City Marilao
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