By ALBERT CASTRO

Henry Sy’s SM Hypermarket will be the anchor store in the commercial complex, Centris, Lucio Tan’s property unit, Eton Properties Philippines , Inc., is building at the corner of EDSA and Quezon Ave. in Quezon City.

The complex will be the latest in the string of malls dotting EDSA from SM City North EDSA, Trinoma of the Ayala Corp., and Walter Mart. All of the malls are within the area earlier designed to be the government center.

The Tan property will house 10 residential towers and seven business process outsourcing buildings.

The "Centris Station" where SM Hypermarket will be the anchor store, will serve as the main shopping area for the 12-hectare development project.

SM Hypermarket Centris will be the 14th hypermart, according to SM Hypermarket executive vice president Robert Kwee.

Eton president Danilo Ignacio said Centris Station will be finished by the fourth quarter of next year, giving the hypermarket enough time to open for Christmas.

"This will help us reach out to more people. There are a lot of people passing through the area," noted Kwee.

"Hopefully this will forge a long term partnership with SM," added Ignacio.

Eton is set to complete by end-2008 its first business process outsourcing (BPO) building which forms part of the project’s "Cyberpod" office development component. Eton plans to construct a total of 7 mid-rise BPO buildings for the office component.

One Cyberpod Centris, a 12-storey building, has a leasable area of 10,000 sq.m.

Ignacio said Eton is in discussion with "a dozen locators" for Eton Cyberpod with the remaining buildings to be constructed on a "built-to-suit basis."

A Centris Walk, a high-end dining and retail strip that will unveil upscale restaurants and bars, and brand and retail shops will compliment Centris Station.

Ignacio said the residential condominium "will be introduced in 2009."

The development of Centris is a major component of the World Bank-conceptualized Triangle Park central business district plan for Quezon City.

The Triangle Park CBD encompasses 250 hectares of properties in North to East Avenue, envisioned to be the "center of all commercial activities" in Quezon City.