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.