The company will develop 7 million square feet of area in this ‘Grade-A’ IT park project ‘Intellion Park’ in a phased manner over the next eight years.

Tata group firm Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd on Saturday announced an investment of Rs 5,000 crore to develop a premium IT park project in Navi Mumbai as it expects demand for office and data centre spaces to rise in coming years. In an interview with PTI, Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sanjay Dutt said the company will develop 7 million square feet of area in this ‘Grade-A’ IT park project ‘Intellion Park’ in a phased manner over the next eight years. He said the company will develop this project in partnership with UK-based investment firm Actis.

“We have 47.1 acre of land located in Ghansoli, Navi Mumbai. On this land parcel, we are doing 7 million square feet of development, predominantly IT space and data centres with some complementary retail and non-IT office space,” Dutt told PTI. “The total investment on this project is Rs 5,000 crore. This is Tata Realty’s largest single investment in office real estate,” he highlighted.

Once completed, Dutt said more than 70,000 people will work in this IT campus. Actis has been roped in as investment partner in this project. This is the third such partnership with Actis. “Tata Realty is a majority shareholder in this IT park project,” Dutt said, but did not disclose the amount invested by the Actis group.

The total investment will be funded through equity and debt. The construction work has started in the IT park project. Maharashtra Industries Minister Subhash Desai laid the foundation of the project on Saturday. In the first phase, Dutt said the company is developing 5 lakh square feet (0.5 million square feet) building. The company has already started pre-leasing process of this 5 lakh square feet area.

The Navi Mumbai area commands a monthly rental of Rs 60-70 per square feet. Around 2-3 million square feet office space gets leased in this area. “We are already in the market to pre-lease 5 lakh square feet or even more. We can built to suit for corporates. We are in discussion for development of data centres,” he said.

Tata Realty has involved reputed architects and consultants to design this IT park project, Dutt said. Asked about its existing portfolio, he said Tata Realty currently has a rent-yielding commercial assets of 7 million square feet and almost all of these are office assets.

He highlighted that the company focuses a lot on sustainability, environment and well being of employees. “We build for people and not for tenant. So we focus on air quality, sports, recreational activities and healthy food in our campuses,” Dutt said.

Tata Realty, he said, gives a lot of emphasis on asset management to make office space efficient as well as cost effective. “Our buildings are intelligent, collaborative and dynamic. We keep modernising.” Dutt said the occupancy in its total portfolio currently stands at around 95 per cent.

Commenting on the partnership, Ashish Singh, Partner, Actis India, said: “Actis is proud to be associated with this state-of-the-art project, which will not only provide an office destination of choice for tech companies to thrive in, but also be a buzzing social place for their talent, strengthening these companies’ ability to attract and retain top quality talent, an increasingly important competitive advantage.”

Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd, which is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Sons, has an extensive portfolio of over 50 projects across 15 cities. Tata Realty has developed over 15 million square feet of commercial projects and has around 12 million square feet of projects under development & planning.

https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/tata-realty-to-invest-rs-5000-cr-to-build-it-park-project-in-navi-mumbai/2383106/