SM North EDSA

SM North EDSA, formerly known as The SM Center North EDSA, The SM City North EDSA, and SM City North EDSA, is a large shopping mall located in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is the first SM Supermall in the country and formerly the largest shopping mall in the Philippines from 2008 to 2011, circa 2014, and from 2015 to 2021.
SM North EDSA is owned and operated by SM Prime Holdings. It opened on November 8, 1985, with a gross floor area of. Through a continuous series of expansions since 2019, the mall has a current gross floor area of. The mall's redevelopment began with the opening of The Block in July 2006. Among the developments were a new Annex building which opened in December 2008 and Sky Garden which opened in May 2009. The Car Park Plaza was turned into a lifestyle center in 2009.

History

SM North EDSA was built on of marshland in a relatively remote location amidst a political crisis that saw interest rates rise as high as 45 percent. According to the 1941 Frost Plan for Quezon City, the area was supposed to be the site of the National Exposition Grounds when the city was designated as the capital of the Philippines. In the 1970s, the area became a U.S. Navy Transmitter Station Naval Reservation. The lot was also owned by the Government Service Insurance System and was intended to host houses for public school teachers. The mall opened on November 8, 1985, as The SM Center North EDSA. It was the first mall built by SM Prime Holdings Inc., with the initial tenants being SM's fifth department store and first supermarket. At that time, it had a gross floor area of. It was later renamed The SM City North EDSA in 1986, becoming the first SM mall with the "City" branding.
As more tenants and entertainment venues were added, The SM City North EDSA then came to be known as the mall that institutionalized the "one-stop" shopping concept in the Philippines. It was the first to introduce "malling" as a pastime in the Philippines. A four-level carpark, also known as Annex 1, was constructed in February 1988. The lower ground floor was converted into an enclosed retail space. Another level was also added to the main mall. On July 28, 1989, a two-floor annex, also known as the original "Annex 2", was built providing more leasable space, a bowling alley, and four additional movie houses. The main building and the annexes were expanded with a lower ground level, and the first level of The Carpark Plaza was converted into a Cyberzone, a section reserved mainly for technology and gadget retail. It was renamed as SM City North EDSA in 2002.
Over the years, SM North EDSA had seen many expansions and redevelopments, including the construction of Annex 3, which opened in 2006. On July 28, 2006, Annex 3, also known as The Block, was opened featuring a hypermarket, its flagship toy store, additional four movie theaters, retail shops, and restaurants. On February 8, 2007, as part of its massive redevelopment plan, the original Annex 2 was completely demolished and construction of a new building started. The current Annex 2 was reopened on December 12, 2008. In May 2009, The Sky Garden was opened to the public, featuring its linear park garden and a 1,500-seater Sky Dome. In 2011, the six-story structure Annex 4, known as the Northlink, was completed, housing BPO companies and retail stores.
For two years, SM North EDSA was the largest solar-powered shopping mall in Southeast Asia after installing 5,760 solar panels until that record was surpassed in May 2016 by the Robinsons Starmills in San Fernando, Pampanga. In 2022, the mall's "City" branding was dropped, officially renaming it simply as SM North EDSA.

SM North EDSA Complex

Since its inception in 1985, and the construction of the original Car Park Plaza in February 1988 and the second Annex Building in July 1989, SM North EDSA Complex's current edifice within the complex is composed of the City Center, Interior Zone, The Annex, The Block, The Sky Garden, The Northlink, and The North Towers. The complex has further expanded beyond which is interconnected by a series of footbridges linked to different sides of the main mall structure.

Main mall complex

City Center (Main Building)

Opened on November 8, 1985, the original building consisted of only three floors. Its original structure has evolved through the years. The City Center has a total of gross floor area. Its fourth floor has recently been added to keep up with demand. The newly renovated city center has spherical skylights. As the hub of the retail complex, the City Center has various retail establishments, including the mall's main anchors: SM Store and SM Supermarket. It is also the hub of leisure anchors such as SM Food court, an entertainment center, and a newly modernized cineplex that incorporated the country's second IMAX Theater. The main dining establishments of the City Center are situated on the second level where they break through the frontage in a sequence of linear casements which overlook the Sky Garden.
The building had undergone several changes since 2019, with the renovation of the west wing cinema area, conversion of east wing cinemas to tenant spaces, and the construction of a new Go-Kart facility in the portioned area formerly occupied by SM Store at the 3rd Level. The go-kart facility and the new four digital cinemas at the West Wing opened on May 1 and 4, 2022, respectively. A new facility named Dino Land will open at the former eastern entrance of SM Store.

SM Cinema

The City Center originally featured 8 cinemas in 1985. In 1989, Cinemas 1 to 4 were renamed to Cinemas 9 to 12, upon the opening of the cinemas in the Annex 2 building.
In 2019, Cinemas 9 and 10 were closed for renovation and redevelopment, followed by Cinemas 7 and 8 in January 2020.
The cinemas in the East Wing, Cinemas 5 to 8, were converted as tenant and retail spaces in 2022. The new Cinemas 4 to 7 opened on May 4, 2022.
In 2022, the original Cinema 11 was temporarily operated as a filler for blockbuster films if the other cinemas were occupied or fully reserved. However, in 2023, it closed and was replaced by a Paris Baguette bakeshop.

IMAX

The IMAX opened on July 14, 2009, at the former Cinema 12, and it is the second IMAX theater in the country after SM Mall of Asia. It is the first IMAX location in the country that uses digital projection.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, the IMAX was closed on March 14, 2020. It was supposed to be permanently closed in that situation, however, following the successful negotiation between SM Cinema and IMAX Corporation, the IMAX re-opened on May 4, 2022.
By January 2022 until April 2022, the IMAX temporarily operated as LSF or "Large Screen Format" with films shown in non-IMAX DMR releases, following the ongoing negotiation.
In September 2024, the IMAX was temporarily closed for renovation and IMAX with Laser upgrade, following the expanded partnership between SM Cinema and IMAX Corporation that will bring IMAX with Laser upgrades to existing IMAX locations. The IMAX with Laser opened on October 23, 2024.

Interior Zone (Annex 1)

The Car Park Plaza or Annex 1, the first building, was built in February 1988. The original structure was a four-level parking building. In the early 2000s, the open-parking area beside it was built and made into its horizontal expansion to accommodate more vehicles and to integrate the building to the newly constructed The Block. In the 2010s, the building was expanded vertically by adding two floors via a steel structure with integrated rooftop solar panels. The Car Park Plaza features the first outlet of the Cyberzone, which later moved to The Annex building to make way for an additional 8,000 parking slots. The building is connected to the main mall via a footbridge at the second floor.
Today, the former Cyberzone have been transformed into a "lifestyle center" named the Interior Zone which opened on November 16, 2009, and planned by Architects EAT from Australia. The "lifestyle center" is a shop for furniture, houseware, décor, upholstery, wallpaper, tiles and lighting fixtures. The total gross floor area of Interior Zone is. Also on the Annex 1 is a solar power plant made up of 5,760 solar panels and located on the seventh level. The plant can generate up to 1.5 megawatts of power, which made SM North EDSA the world's largest solar-powered shopping mall from 2014 to 2016, when it was overtaken by Robinsons Starmills in San Fernando, Pampanga.

The Annex (Annex 2)

The original Annex 2 was built on July 28, 1989. It consisted of three floors as an expansion to the City Center and featured close to 200 shops and restaurants. On top of the four additional movie houses, it also catered a bingo hall, an amusement center and a bowling alley. The lower ground floor also served as the former administration office of SM North EDSA along with a few beauty clinics and a junior anchor, Hardware Workshop. A footbridge was constructed at the left side of the City Center that provided easy access to the mall. On February 20, 2002, the four movie houses were closed and on February 8, 2007, the original Annex 2 was closed and demolished as part of SM North EDSA's redevelopment plan.
On December 12, 2008, it reopened with high-end retail stores, specialty restaurants, a Cyberzone, a game arcade and a new bowling center. The current Annex 2 measures. Like The Block, The Annex has an exterior with undulating aquamarine ribbon consisting of perforated metal panels. The Annex has a curvilinear atrium, which stretches its length. In June 2009, SM North EDSA reopened its bowling center located on the lower ground floor.

The Block (Annex 3)

The Block, formerly one of the wide-open parking areas to the right of the main building, was opened on July 29, 2006. This mall has five levels of retail shops and restaurants, five digital cinemas, and a SM Hypermarket on the ground level. The Block's architectural design is centered on a large oval courtyard that hosted events and products launches. This is crisscrossed by multiple bridges on several levels and is lit through large circular skylights. The Block contains most of the high-end anchor stores owned or operated by SM which includes but is not limited to H&M, Uniqlo, Sports Central, Watsons and Vikings. It is also home to the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Chapel, a Roman Catholic chapel located at the fourth level.
The building has since been renovated in 2023, adding a new biophilic look, an escalator connected to SM Hypermarket, relocation and renovation of stores, a new floor layout and tiles, and a brand new Food Hall located on the 4th floor, akin to the MOA Food Hall and Mega Food Hall of SM Mall of Asia and SM Megamall, respectively. Disney Store has opened at the 3rd floor after their Mall of Asia branch in September 2025.
Several bridge connections integrated The Block to the existing mall, carpark areas, Sky Garden and the North Towers.