The Hindu Business Line : DLF's Chennai IT park goes operational

Chennai April 2 DLF, the New Delhi-based developer, marked its entry into the Chennai market with the inauguration of its first IT special economic zone here on Monday.

The DLF IT Park @ Chennai went operational with 4.10 lakh sq ft of space of which Symantec, the US-based security software company, took 2.50 lakh sq ft.

According to Mr A.S. Minocha, Chairman, DLF Commercial Developers Ltd, when completed the 41-acre facility will have 6.6 million sq ft of built up space distributed over 11 blocks with space for 60,000-70,000 people to work.

According to company officials, over 1.5 million sq ft space has been committed with 7-8 large IT companies taking up space. The lease rates are now over Rs 50 a sq ft. The officials declined to divulge the names of the companies.

DLF is looking at more projects in Chennai in the commercial retail and residential market segments. In 2007, it will construct over 3.2 million sq ft of commercial space and 3.8 million in the next year. In the residential segment, it plans to build over 1.2 million sq ft a year in 2008 and 2009. In the commercial space, it has plans to construct 3.2 million sq ft in the current year and 3.8 million in 2008.

Madurai, Coimbatore

It is also exploring opportunities to launch projects in Madurai and Coimbatore. But DLF's entry into these markets will depend on the infrastructure and the human resource pool for IT and related segments. It is only when the human resource is available that companies will look for developed space. "Companies are not going to come just because there are buildings," Mr Minocha said.

More parks

Officials said that DLF is planning more IT parks in Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Nagpur and Sonepat. DLF will add over 100 million sq ft of built up space in the next 7-8 years.

Mr Ramesh Nair, Local Director - South India Head of Markets, Corporate Solutions, Jones Lang LaSalle, the project leasing agents for the IT park, said the project offers the clients scalability. More space— over 6 million sq ft— is being made available over the next two-three years. Jones Lang LaSalle, international property consultant, was also involved in acquiring the property for DLF.

Apart from the central air-conditioning and 100 per cent power back up it is NFPA compliant (National Fire Protection Agency, US) and DLF has an active disaster management plan for all its projects.

More Stories on : Infrastructure | Outlook | Real Estate & Construction

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
IISc joins hands with Texas Instruments

Symantec opens second R&D facility in Chennai

DLF's Chennai IT park goes operational

HCL Info restructuring approved

Start-up develops social networking site

Subex Azure buys Syndesis

Chip policy: Support is at the `threshold point'

`Zero-day' exploits Windows cursor vulnerability