Hines to Develop 43 Acre IT Park in Pune, India With Goel Ganga

Hines will make its first foray into one of India’s fastest-growing office markets with the construction of a 43 acre (17 hectare) IT park in the city of Pune, east of Mumbai.

The US developer is establishing its foothold in the metro area of more than 5 million people through a partnership with landowner Goel Ganga Corporation. Hines will develop a site spanning nearly 7 million square feet (650,321 square metres) in the tech-focused Pune suburb of Kharadi.

The first phase of the initial development will be 2.4 million square feet of Class A office space, Houston-based Hines said in a release.

“We are excited to enter the Pune office market with Goel Ganga Corporation,” said Amit Diwan, managing director and India country head at Hines. “We share the same long-term vision and belief that this project will become an ideal office of choice for future tenants. Pune has a deep institutional office market, and we are thrilled to be adding a Hines proof asset to the market.”

Office Hotspot

The land parcel tapped for development is in the SBD East submarket, which boasts more than 50 percent of Pune’s Class A office stock and some of the city’s lowest vacancy rates, Hines said. The project will be well connected to other key micro-markets of eastern Pune via existing roads like the Ahmednagar Highway and the Kharadi Bypass.

The IT park in Pune, about 75 miles (121 kilometres) from Mumbai in western Maharashtra state, follows previous Hines office projects in India such as One Horizon Centre and Skyview Corporate Park in Gurugram and the under-construction Altitude tower in Bengaluru.

Pune-based developer Goel Ganga also has a presence in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Nagpur. The family firm’s business interests include residential, commercial, education, hospitality and malls.

“We have believed in creating landmarks in residential real estate development in the past four decades by delivering nearly 30 million square feet,” said chairman and managing director Amit Goel. “Now on our new vision to create a benchmark in commercial, IT, ITES assets of over more than 20 million square feet, we are delighted to partner with Hines on this project to create the benchmark, similar to the ones they have created in other parts of India and worldwide.”

Privately owned Hines has a presence in 240 cities in 27 countries, with assets under management valued at $160.9 billion.

Mutual Benefits

Cushman & Wakefield advised Hines’s deal with Goel Ganga, announced last Thursday. Saurabh Shatdal, managing director for land and capital markets in the agency’s India practice, called the tie-up a “synergistic partnership” enabling Hines to build a high-quality campus on Goel Ganga’s land.

“We are happy to have advised on this deal where both partners can benefit from each other’s strengths and experience to create the next landmark project for Pune,” Shatdal said.

In its latest Pune Office Marketbeat report, Cushman & Wakefield said the city recorded first-quarter gross leasing of 1.15 million square feet, down 22 percent from the prior quarter and 35 percent year-on-year.

SBD East dominated leasing activity with a 73 percent share. Major occupiers included those in the IT-BPM, engineering, manufacturing and professional services sectors.

With several projects in the final stages, 3.8 million square feet of fresh supply is estimated to be delivered in Pune this year, of which just 27 percent is pre-committed, the report said.

In a JLL report released this month, the consultancy predicts that Pune’s advantage of talent, technology, industry and connectivity will propel the longtime industrial hub towards becoming the next megacity of India.

“Pune has completed its transformation into an economy driven by the services sector with a strong industrial base,” JLL said. “It has grown exponentially, marking its permanent presence on India’s real estate landscape.”