For Chennaiites, the name Guindy summons up images of significant landmarks like the Guindy National Park, Raj Bhavan, Snake Park, IIT Madras, and the Guindy Race Course.
In addition to being home to sprawling lung spaces in the city, Guindy was also a very important industrial hub where small and medium enterprises flourished.
Did you know?
The history of the slightly quirky name Guindy is intriguing. It is believed that the name is derived from ‘ kindi’ , the pitcher of water carried by sages. Legend has it that this is the spot where Sage Bringi placed his kindi while performing a puja, and it later was Anglicized to Guindy.
Guindy’s commercial development
Over the years, Guindy has developed from being just an industrial centre to a flourishing residential area.
It was through the development of the Thiru Vi Ka Industrial Estate that Guindy became a centre for small-scale industries involved in metal cutting, steel, industrial equipment manufacture, and others. But more and more corporates from the financial, IT and ITes, and other domains are setting up shop here contributing to a very mixed demographic.
Today, Chennai’s Central Business Districts comprising places like Parry’s Corner and George Town is slowly eroding as more and more corporates and industries are finding more spacious commercial areas in areas like Guindy.
Employment hubs near Guindy include:
ASV Suntech Park
Bahwan Cyber Tek IT Park
Shapoorji Pallonji Infocity
Olympia Tech Park
What’s particularly interesting about Guindy is that it has a large number of government-owned lands that were developed as institutions, tourist and recreational spots, and industrial estates.
And many of these industries have now been converted into IT and ITES offices. This has led to a spurt in residential development in Guindy.
Guindy as a prime residential market
In addition to numerous employment opportunities, Guindy’s pull is its proximity to the airport and the railway station, which is just about 9 km and 1 km away respectively. In addition to the Guindy bus stand, Adambakkam bus stand and Chromepet bus stand are also very accessible.
With the IT boom, smaller neighbourhoods surrounding Guindy like Velachery and Ashok Nagar have seen rapid development, adding to Guindy’s attractiveness.
The completion of the Kathipara flyover, some new high-end hotels, and the Phoenix Market City Mall have also contributed to the growth of Guindy as a residential hub.
Connectivity
Guindy is close to prime areas like Saidapet, Kotturpuram, Adyar, and St Thomas Mount. It is well connected by road to Mount Poonamallee Road, Inner Ring Road and GST Road, in addition to the Kathipara Flyover.
Education
Apart from IIT Madras, Guindy is home to many other premium educational institutions like Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan and Meenakshi College of Engineering.
Guindy also boasts plenty of renowned hospitals and retail outlets making it a very attractive neighbourhood.
Pricing
Currently, the average price for property in Guindy ranges between Rs 6,120 and 7,260 per sq ft.
With such a mixed population working and residing in Guindy, the kind of housing on offer vary from budget to luxury, apartments to villas, plots to independent houses, tailor-made for the different types of people who live here. Students and a young workforce also drive up demand for rental housing in Guindy.
This article is contributed by RoofandFloor , part of KSL Digital Ventures Pvt. Ltd., from The Hindu Group
