B'lore absorbs 6 m sq ft office space

Bangalore has absorbed six million square feet of office (commercial) space in three quarters (January to September) in 2005 and is likely to close the year above the 7.25 million square feet absorbed last year.

On the supply side, about 2.8 million square feet of space came into the market in third quarter (July-September) of 2005 and a further 4.1 million square feet of space is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter (October-December).

Of this, nearly 3 million square feet of supply is to come up in suburban and peripheral areas.

IT software services / ITeS companies, the backbone of the real estate dream run in the city, have shown their steady performance once again by continuing to expand in Bangalore despite threats of moving out, said Ram T Chandnani, head, south India operations, CB Ricahrd Ellis.

"While new entrants into the city have continued to take up space in growing micro-markets, others are increasingly trying to locate close to residential localities," he added.

As per the third quarter (Q3) property outlook brought out by CB Richard Ellis, international property consultants, in addition to ITTeS companies, other services sectors (banking, financial services and outsourcing) have also shown steady growth, reflecting in their space take-up.

Companies in these service verticals have absorbed large office spaces.

Prominent transactions in the CBD include Riverstone Technologies leasing 37,000 square feet and Amazon leasing 25,000 square feet on Millers Road, ICICI Ventures leasing 16,000 square feet and ABC Consultants leasing 11,000 square feet on Kasturba Road.

In the non CBD areas, two major commercial office projects "" Embassy Golf Links Software Park (EGLSP) and Bagmane Tech Park "" have attracted high class clientele.

Notable transactions in non-CBD include ANZ IT leasing 100,000 square feet on the Inner Ring Road, Airtel leasing 32,000 square feet on the Inner Ring Road, Arcot Software leasing 10,000 square feet on Airport Road, Huawei Telecom leasing 55,000 square feet on Airport Road, Bearing Point leasing 50,000 square feet on the Inner Ring Road, Walmart leasing 25,000 square feet on the Inner Ring Road.

In suburban and peripheral areas some of the notable transactions include Symbi leasing 40,000 square feet in Varthur, Flextronics leasing 40,000 square feet in Varthur, HLL leasing 33,000 square feet in Whitefield, Caterpillar leasing 60,000 square feet in Whitefield, NIIT leasing 40,000 square feet on Hosur Road, Deutsche Bank leasing 20,000 square feet in Electronic City, Fidelity leasing 30,000 square feet in Whitefield, GE leasing 40,000 square feet in Whitefield, EFI has leased 100,000 square feet. Qwest leasing 75,000 square feet on the Outer Ring Road.