Two recent big ticket deals show the city’s commercial lease market seems to be firming up after last year’s slowdown.
In perhaps the first large office lease deal of 2015, real estate portal Housing.com has taken on lease 1.5 lakh sqft spread over two buildings in Hiranandani Complex, Powai. In the other transaction, Trafigura, a global commodity trading and logistics firm, will expand its presence in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC). It will occupy 1 lakh sq ft on the 10th and 11th floors of One BKC, a commercial tower owned by Radius Developers.
Trafigura’s 10-year lease agreement works out to Rs 240 per sqft a month with rent increase of 15% every three years. Trafigura already has a presence in MakerMaxCity building in BKC and a Godrej commercial building in Vikhroli.
One BKC tower came in control of developer Sanjay Chhabria following his business separation from builder Vijay Wadhwa of Wadhwa Group.
Housing.com, a start-up founded by a dozen IIT-Bombay engineers barely three years ago, is on a major expansion spree with plans to spread its wings globally too. The Powai transaction with the Niranjan Hiranandani Group recently was concluded at around Rs 100 a sqft a month. The five-year lease agreement was brokered by global property consultant Knight Frank.
Sources said the property portal will occupy 1.25 lakh sqft in Winchester and another 25,000 sqft in Spectra, both commercial towers in Hiranandani, Powai. “The company is consolidating for long-term growth. Its promoters, all ex-IITians, chose Powai because they find the eco-system here very conducive,” said a source. It currently occupies about 40,000 sq ft in Supreme building in Powai.
The online real estate portal last year raised $90 million from Softbank Group, which it plans to use to map over 40 million houses across 300 cities in India.
TOI has learnt that two foreign banks, one Gulf-based and another Chinese, are likely to sign large lease agreements for office space in BKC. “The deals will go thorough once the regulatory clearances are procured,” said the source.
Late last year, Bank of America shifted its India headquarters from Nariman Point to BKC. It took on lease 1.3 lakh sqft (four floors) in One BKC at Rs 230 per sqft a month, but with a high advance deposit of over 18 months’ rent. The lease works out to around Rs 3 crore a month.
Last month, Taj Hotels (Indian Hotels Company) took on lease two floors in ExpressTowers on an annual rent of over Rs 10 crore. The transaction was fixed at roughly Rs 270 per sqft a month for the next five years.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Two-mega-lease-deals-in-Mumbai-warm-up-slow-market/articleshow/46534593.cms
