Emaar's 'iconic' India building still on drawing board

The India joint venture, Emaar MGF, says it is in talks with foreign designers and architects for the project

After lying low for several quarters, the joint venture real estate company of Dubai’s Emaar Properties and home-grown MGF is toying with the idea of what it calls an “iconic” building in India. Ever since its launch in the country in 2005, it remained focused on high-end residential and commercial properties (nine of the former for every one of the latter) until controversies and slowdown almost put brakes on development activities.
Burj Khalifa in Dubai is considered Emaar’s most iconic creation in the world. But it is not clear whether India’s “iconic” will match Dubai’s. The company’s plans for an “architecturally aesthetic” structure in India is still on the drawing board, with even the number of storeys in it undecided. In an interaction with Business Standard, K Ramamurthy, chief executive (projects), Emaar MGF, said the company was talking with foreign designers and architects for the project without revealing details.  
For more than two years, the company has had to battle controversies related to delayed allocation of flats in Delhi’s Commonwealth Games (CWG) Village, a joint project with Delhi Development Authority, an enforcement directorate case on alleged foreign exchange violations, failed public offers and a Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheet regarding irregularities in a Hyderabad project. It has recently restructured senior management to streamline execution targets, sources said.
While Ramamurthy joined six months ago from another real estate company, Adrian Hardwick Jones, chief of design, has also joined recently. The company has brought in many other senior professionals at the project head levels.
Emaar MGF hit its lowest in development in 2012 when it neither launched nor delivered a single project, following the CWG project of 2010. It recovered slightly in 2013 and launched two, while delivering the first phase of a township and plotted development projects in Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Indore (Madhya Pradesh), besides a group housing in Mohali (Chandigarh). Ramamurthy said: “2014-15 will be the year of delivery as about eight projects launched earlier will be delivered in this period.” The company has now tied up with third-party contractors such as Shapoorji Pallonji, IL&FS and JMC to meet project deadlines.
The company is likely to maintain its residential-commercial ratio.
It is developing 54 projects (including project phases) — 45 residential and nine commercial/retail, with an aggregate saleable area of 42.5 millon sq ft, spread across eight cities. It has a land bank of about 10,000 acres (including developed projects), of which 908 acres are in Delhi and 2,369 in Gurgaon.
The company has debt of Rs 4,000 crore, 60 per cent of which is long-term. “We have been reducing the debt over the years and working on reducing it further.”
The real estate sector has been slowing down for over a year, with dipping sales and high stocks. The projection for the sector is yet to pick up.

Gurgaon top guzzler of COMMERCIAL SPACE IN NCR Commercial property of Gurgaon always tops in demand charts, says A K TIWARY: (EVC and MD Shravan Gupta Emaar MGF)

Commercial properties in Gurgaon are being seen as smart investment options, as they give more capital appreciation compared to residential property.

Despite the disappointing economic picture, investor appetite for good quality real estate remains firm and this is likely to continue to underpin capital values in prime locations of Gurgaon like Golf Course Road, main Gurgaon Sohna Road, NH-8, etc.

These sectors are also reaping benefits from the recently-announced government measures to open up the country to more foreign direct investment.

Navin Raheja, CMD of Raheja Developers, says: “The impact of the subdued economic sentiment and the rising inflation rate on the realty market and the attractiveness of a city’s business environment can largely be gauged by evaluating the health of commercial realty in that city. The sentiment towards commercial real estate investment in Gurgaon remains favourable. The mood of investors is positive as there is a sense of stability due to the recent measures like the opening of foreign direct investments in retail. The retail sector is forecast to grow because of this announcement.”

Office space absorption Gurgaon recorded around 2.2 million sq ft of office space absorption in the third quarter of financial year 2012. This is much above the average quarterly absorption of the NCR market, which ranges between 1 million sq ft to 1.5 million sq ft.

Some of the prominent transactions that took place in the third quarter of financial year 2012 were by McKinsey, Ericsson, Income Tax Department, Samsung Electronics, Daffodil Software, Wipro, and KPMG. These constitute nearly 1.1 million sq ft of the total office space absorption.

Considering the level of pre-commitments and the fact that transaction activity is typically conservative in the final quarter of the financial year, demand is expected to improve in the latter half of the year.

The hottest locations like Golf Course Road, Golf Course Extension Road, Dwarka Gurgaon Expressway, and main Gurgaon-Sohna Road have registered great demand for state-of-the-art commercial properties.
Top developers like DLF, Unitech, Ansal Group, Vatika, Vipul, Hines, Paras, etc, have come up with world-class commercial projects in the Millennium City.

Ansal Housing is coming up with HUB 83 in Gurgaon, which will offer retail and office spaces, while Ansals Town Walk offers high street retail-cum-corporate spaces on Dwarka Expressway in Sector 104.

Orient Bestech Business Towers, on NH-8, Gurgaon, have been created keeping in mind the growing requirements of IT/ITeS firms. The project offers nearly 6.25 lakh sq ft of contemporary working spaces spread across two towers. Commercial Hub by Bestech offers floor plate ranging from 15,000 sq ft to 20,000 sq ft with retail space on ground floor for banks, ATMs, and restaurants.

Floreal Towers, with a floor plate of 20,000- 60,000 sq ft, is located in New Gurgaon and is over 7 acres with around 5 lakh sq ft of retail and office space. This stateof-the-art office-cum-retail complex by Orris is spread over two towers.

Innovative Legend Heights is a mega, Rs 250-crore commercial project; with a total area of 4.5 lakh sq ft, Legend Heights has two glass-glazed towers with ground plus 11 floors. It has a contemporary design and is centrally airconditioned with three-tier basement parking. It offers 64,000 sq ft area dedicated to shopping and retail mall. However, 11 floors embracing an area of 1.20 lakh sq ft are designed as commercial space and Innovative has already tied up with Hyatt Group of hotels for mixed-use land development.

ABW Business Bay, a commercial project by ABW Group along NH-8 in Sector 83, Gurgaon, offers retail, restaurants, shops, and office spaces.
Ocus Medley by Ocus Group is over 4.14 acres; it is a mixed-use commercial project with high street retail and a business tower for office spaces along Dwarka-Expressway in Sector 99, Gurgaon.

Ciel Square, an exclusively designed high-end commercial complex by Uppal Group is near NH-8 and Dwarka-Manesar Highway in Gurgaon. It will have expansive green spaces over 3.6 acres on a total area of 6.9 acres. Ciel Square will have retails outlets on its ground floor and premium business suites on the remaining floors.

Raheja Trinity by Raheja Developers offers the best of three worlds in Gurgaonoffice space, retail, and service apartments. Located in the heart of New Gurgaon in Sector 84, at the intersection of Dwarka Expressway with the sector road dividing Sectors 83 and 84-Trinity is in the midst of a bustling residential hub. A number of posh and high-end residential projects are also being developed in this area. The affluent neighborhood opens a great avenue for retailers. The location offers excellent connectivity to and from Delhi, the IGI airport, as well as other parts of Gurgaon.

Raheja Trinity is an amalgamation of retail (ground and first floor), service apartments, and offices for the market. The rooftop clubhouse along with swimming pool, gymnasium, party area, and terrace garden are the USPs of the project.

Ameya Group has recently launched Sapphire Eighty Three in Sector 83, Gurgaon. The project is at the crossroads of several upscale, fast-developing residential sectors. The ground and first floor are dedicated to retail area followed by entertainment zone on the second floor with multiplex, food zone, and restaurants. The remaining portion of the project has plush one- and two- room suites.

Satya Group and Maple Group are coming up with Element One, a commercial project in Sectors 47 and 49; the project offers 1BHK fully-furnished apartments, high-end retail shops on the ground floor and first floor with different design option for retail, entertainment, shopping, and business suites.

EMAAR MGF has launched Capital Towers at Downtown-part of a mixed-use development project in the heart of Gurgaon. Located at Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road, near Guru Dronacharya Metro station, Capital Tower 1 at Downtown is a bustling business project that offers business and retail space with recreational amenities.

Ashish Jerath, VP of EMAAR MGF, says: “In August 2013, we launched a commercial project, Capital Tower 1 over 3.5 acres; it is strategically located at the gateway of Gurgaon and inspired by the very best of international architectural design. We expect to deliver this project sometime in 2016. Construction has begun on the project-the excavation work is complete and foundation and basement work is in progress.”

Paras Buildtech has launched Paras Square, a mixed-use project with commercial space. The group has delivered two commercial projects, Paras Twin Towers and Paras Downtown Centre, in Gurgaon. Other commercial projects like Paras Trade Centre and Paras Trinity are in the construction stage, while Paras Square, the sole mixed-use project, will come up next to Golf Course Extension Road in Sector 63A.

Microtek Infrastructures has lined up four commercial projects in New Gurgaon area, in close proximity to Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway.

Ajay Aggarwal, MD, Microtek Infrastructure, says: “Gurgaon has almost exhausted its space, so the current developments have shifted to the developing sectors of New Gurgaon. Development authorities like Huda and MCG have adopted innovative action plans for the infrastructural development of this part of Gurgaon.

That is why wider connectivity roads are being laid out and the much soughtafter Dwarka-Gurgaon Expressway is being developed on a par with international standards. With a number of residential projects either launched or completed, there will be a need for commercial space to support the modern lifestyle of the residents. We have lined up a few commercial projects to this end.”

QUICK
BITES
APART FROM IT, NON-IT SECTORS LIKE CONSULTING AND BFSI (BANKING, FINANCIAL SERVICES, AND INSURANCE) ARE ALSO EXPECTED TO INCREASINGLY ABSORB THE AVAILABLE SPACE
GURGAON RECORDED AROUND 2.2 MILLION SQ FT OF OFFICE SPACE ABSORPTION IN THE THIRD QUARTER OF FINANCIAL YEAR 2012. THIS IS MUCH ABOVE THE AVERAGE QUARTERLY ABSORPTION OF THE NCR MARKET, WHICH RANGES BETWEEN 1 MILLION SQ FT TO 1.5 MILLION SQ FT

The India joint venture, Emaar MGF, says it is in talks with foreign designers and architects for the project

After lying low for several quarters, the joint venture real estate company of Dubai’s Emaar Properties and home-grown MGF is toying with the idea of what it calls an “iconic” building in India. Ever since its launch in the country in 2005, it remained focused on high-end residential and commercial properties (nine of the former for every one of the latter) until controversies and slowdown almost put brakes on development activities.

Burj Khalifa in Dubai is considered Emaar’s most iconic creation in the world. But it is not clear whether India’s “iconic” will match Dubai’s. The company’s plans for an “architecturally aesthetic” structure in India is still on the drawing board, with even the number of storeys in it undecided. In an interaction with Business Standard, K Ramamurthy, chief executive (projects), Emaar MGF, said the company was talking with foreign designers and architects for the project without revealing details.    

For more than two years, the company has had to battle controversies related to delayed allocation of flats in Delhi’s Commonwealth Games (CWG) Village, a joint project with Delhi Development Authority, an enforcement directorate case on alleged foreign exchange violations, failed public offers and a Central Bureau of Investigation chargesheet regarding irregularities in a Hyderabad project. It has recently restructured senior management to streamline execution targets, sources said.

While Ramamurthy joined six months ago from another real estate company, Adrian Hardwick Jones, chief of design, has also joined recently. The company has brought in many other senior professionals at the project head levels.

Emaar MGF hit its lowest in development in 2012 when it neither launched nor delivered a single project, following the CWG project of 2010. It recovered slightly in 2013 and launched two, while delivering the first phase of a township and plotted development projects in Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Indore (Madhya Pradesh), besides a group housing in Mohali (Chandigarh). Ramamurthy said: “2014-15 will be the year of delivery as about eight projects launched earlier will be delivered in this period.” The company has now tied up with third-party contractors such as Shapoorji Pallonji, IL&FS and JMC to meet project deadlines.
The company is likely to maintain its residential-commercial ratio.  

It is developing 54 projects (including project phases) — 45 residential and nine commercial/retail, with an aggregate saleable area of 42.5 millon sq ft, spread across eight cities. It has a land bank of about 10,000 acres (including developed projects), of which 908 acres are in Delhi and 2,369 in Gurgaon.

The company has debt of Rs 4,000 crore, 60 per cent of which is long-term. “We have been reducing the debt over the years and working on reducing it further.”
The real estate sector has been slowing down for over a year, with dipping sales and high stocks. The projection for the sector is yet to pick up.