Tishman Speyer opens its first IT park in India

News Posted - 2010-06-04

HYDERABAD: Tishman Speyer, one of the world's leading developers of real estate, Tuesday unveiled its first property in Asia, commissioning the first phase of the Waverock IT Park here.

The US-based developer also launched the second phase of the project, a joint venture between Tishman and ICICI Ventures, which has come up at a special economic zone at Nanakramguda, Gachibowli, an IT district on the city's outskirts.

Comprising two phases, Waverock has come up on 12 acres of land for providing 2.46 million square feet IT office space to provide employment opportunity to 25,000 people.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah commissioned the first phase, comprising 700,000 square feet with 10 floors to seat 7,000 professionals. The first phase, built at a cost of Rs.600 crore, began partial operations in February.

Waverock phase II is estimated to cost Rs.700 crore. When completed, it will provide 1.65 million square feet office space. It will be developed in three sub-phases and will be 15-19 storey-high with a total area of 650,000 square feet each.

TCS has begun its operations in Waverock while Accenture and Invesco will start their offices shortly.

Tishman had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government in 2006 to build the facility. ICICI Ventures is 50 percent partner in the joint venture.

Company officials said 80 percent of the phase I capacity at Waverock was committed. "This is the first building our company has finished in Asia," said Jerry Speyer, chairman and co-chief executive, Tishman Speyer.

India is the 11th country where Tishaman has launched operations.

Tishman, which raises and manages private equity funds for real estate across the world currently has $50 billion of assets under management.

Rosaiah said Hyderabad had made a mark in the world IT map with manpower and world-class IT infrastructure. He said the state aimed to achieve IT export turnover of Rs.70,000 crore and additional direct IT employment generation of 125,000 by 2015.

The IT export turnover from the state in 2009 was Rs.32,500 crore. There are over 1,200 companies providing employment to 251,786 people.Source: ET 01/6/10

CM to open Waverock Phase-I today

Andhra Pradesh chief minister K Rosaiah will be inaugurating the Phase-I of Waverock, an IT park located in the Nanakramguda IT special economic zone (SEZ), on Tuesday.

New York-based real estate developer Tishman Speyer, in 2006, had entered into an MoU with the state government to construct Waverock, a one million-sft IT office facility, in five years. The government had allotted 12 acres of land at a cost of Rs 4.27 per acre to Tishman at the SEZ.

Phase-I of Waverock was completed by Tishman well in advance at an estimated cost of Rs 600 crore with 700,000 sft, comprising 10 floors generating employment to about 7,000 professional.

Waverock Phase -II, estimated to cost Rs 700 crore, when completely built will provide 1.65 million sft of IT and ITeS office space. The building will be developed in three sub-phases and will be 15-19 storey high with a total area of 650,000 sft each, according to a press release on Monday. Source: BS 1/6/10

Tishman Speyer plans 100-acre project in Hyd

Looks to expand presence to Mumbai, Delhi.

New York-based real estate developer Tishman Speyer (TS), with over $50 billion assets under management, is planning to develop a 100-acre IT and integrated township project at Tellapur on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

“We expect the ground breaking for the new project to happen in the first quarter of next year. The plan is still in the conceptualisation stage,” Tishman Speyer chairman and co-chief executive officer Jerry Speyer told mediapersons here on Tuesday.

“We had raised about $2 billion in the last 4-5 months to invest in various projects globally. Capital is not a problem. The problem is getting a good opportunity,” he said, while declining to divulge the Tellapur project cost.

TS had in 2007 announced that the company would be developing a township project at Tellapur on 400 acre. ICICI and Tishman hold 37 per cent each in the project while the remaining is held by Nagarjuna Construction Company. Replying to a query, Speyer said scaling down the size of the project had nothing to do with the economy. The decision was due to technical issues.

The company today inaugurated Phase-I of Waverock at Nanakramguda here, the first building that it had completed in Asia. ICICI Venture is also a joint venture partner in TS’s Waverock project, an IT office facility in Hyderabad.

Built at an estimated cost of Rs 600 crore, Phase-I comprises 700,000 sft of IT and ITeS office space to accommodate 7,000 professional. Tata Consultancy Services Limited has already started its operations from here while Accenture and Invesco will start their offices shortly.

Speyer said work on Phase-II would commence by the beginning of next year and will take four years to be completely operational.

“Post the completion of the Rs 700-crore Phase-II, the Waverock project will provide IT space of 2.46 million sft and provide employment for about 25,000 people,” he added.

Speyer said the company was not looking at expanding in India aggressively but prudently and would shortly be spreading its wings to Mumbai and New Delhi either through acquiring existing properties or developing new projects.

Inaugurating the Phase-I of Waverock, chief minister K Rosaiah said creation of physical infrastructure of international standards was a prerequisite for the ICT industry to set up shop and operate in a most optimal manner.

“Andhra Pradesh has got the highest number of 57 IT special economic zones (SEZs), as against the total number of 351 IT SEZs approved by the Centre in the country. When all the SEZs are fully operational in the next three years, these will create more than 100 million sft of office space and about 1 million direct employment in the IT sector,” the chief minister said.

Source: BS 2/6/10