CapitaLand India, part of Singapore-based CapitaLand, Asia’s largest diversified real estate group, will be investing around Rs 1,500 crore in developing a 2.3 million sq ft Tech Park in Chennai. The project, coming up over 23 acres of land, will eventually offer 4.6 million sq ft in two phases, a senior state government official said.
Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami laid the foundation stone for the project, which will come up near Pallavaram on the Radial Road connecting OMR and GST Roads. The MoU for the project was signed in January 2019 during the second edition of the Global Investors Meet. With work contracts already awarded, the construction is expected to begin soon and the Phase I of the project will be ready for occupation by the third quarter of CY 2022.
“Chennai is one of our key markets for growth. It is the most diversified market for us in India where we have invested in IT parks, industrial townships and warehousing. With both the operational CapitaLand IT Parks in Chennai, ITPC at Taramani and CyberVale (Mahindra World City), fully occupied, our ITPC Radial Road will offer more options for IT and ITeS companies to expand their businesses in Chennai,” said CapitaLand India Business Parks CEO Vinamra Srivastava.
“ITPC Radial Road is being developed as a model project for CapitaLand in India. The leasable area will range from as low as 12,500 sq ft to up to one million sq ft. The project has been designed in such a way that it offers touchless solutions for companies and their employees from entry to operations of lifts and utilities such as that needed in the aftermath of this pandemic scenario,” CapitaLand India Chennai Operations City Head C Velan told TOI.
At a time, when ‘work from home’ is getting to become the new norm in the wake of Covid, will there be demand for more IT spaces in the city? “Even though WFH option is being evaluated by IT companies, the demand for IT space will remain stable in the city owing to new demand and better options. Increased space requirement per employee is expected to jump by 40-50% to ensure optimum social distance that will compensate for the drop in demand.
“Moreover, IT companies offering critical services like back office for manufacturing companies and high-end BPOs will have to continue to operate out of IT parks,” Velan said.
