Godrej Properties Ltd. (GPL), the real estate arm of the Godrej group, launched its new commercial project ‘Godrej BKC’ here on Tuesday. It will come up in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) here.
Godrej BKC, expected to come up by end-2015, is a 50-50 joint venture between GPL and the country’s leading private air carrier, Jet Airways (India). The airline is the anchor tenant in the project, and will move its headquarters there, using 161,460 square feet carpet area of the total saleable area of 1.3 million square feet. GPL and Jet will share the profits from the development equally.
Larsen & Toubro will be the construction partner, and the structure will offer a floor plate of 70,000 square feet, with 19 floors and 2 basement levels for car parking.
The units are being offered at Rs. 27,000-28,000 per square foot initially, said Pirojsha Godrej, Managing Director, Godrej Properties. Addressing a press conference , he said that it was a pure-play corporate office development with no plans for retail or other asset classes in the development.
“The office space market has been weak over the last few years with capital values being subdued and nowhere near their 2007-08 highs,” said Mr. Godrej. “Also, we felt the Indian economy has troughed out and the pick-up will happen over the life of the development of this project,” he added.
GPL expects revenue of Rs. 3,500-4,000 crore from the project. “We will consider rentals at a later stage, maybe two years from now. We are already in talks with some potential buyers,” he said, adding that the project cost of Rs. 2,000-2,500 crore would be funded by a combination of debt and proceeds arising from sales.
