MNCs throng Gurgaon, take 200,000 sq ft space

Driving demand for office space at Gurgaon in Haryana, multinationals like Nokia, Microsoft and Convergys occupied more than 200,000 square feet during January-May 2004, a global real estate consulting firm said.

"The trend of the IT/ITES sector driving occupier demand in Gurgaon continued in May 2004," said real estate consulting firm Jones Lang Lasalle in its latest updates.

Major transactions in Gurgaon included Fidelity Investment leasing 50,000 sq ft in Unitech Business Park and Convergys leasing 40,000 sq ft in Unitech Trade Centre.

DLF Cyber Greens, which is under construction, also witnessed strong absorption with Nokia leasing 50,000 sq ft, Microsoft leasing 55,000 sq ft and merchandising company Redcats leasing 12,000 sq ft.

Out of 219,000 sq ft absorbed commercial space during the review period across all business districts of the national capital region (NCR), Gurgaon accounted for 94 per cent of the total absorption. Connaught Place, the Capital's central business district, witnessed a major transaction at Birla House with infotech major IBM taking 12,000 sq ft space on lease.

Vacancy levels in Gurgaon declined to 13 per cent as against 31 per cent overall level in the prime office locations in the Capital. Rental and capital values in Gurgaon, however, remained stable till May 2004.

The rental values are expected to remain firm at current levels, even though 800,000 sq ft office space would be added by the end of this year. The rental values might come down with the additional 1.5 million sq ft of office space, which is likely to be ready for occupation by 2005.

The rental value for office space recorded a 10 per cent rise in grade a areas in the NCR and ranged from Rs 120-140 per sq ft, while the rental values for grade B buildings remained stable at Rs 50-60 per sq ft.