Prestige Group to take up Rs 2,000 cr worth of projects

Bangalore-based property developer Prestige Group has planned a Rs 2,000 crore worth of projects for 2006. These will include constructing malls, hotels and IT-SEZ in Bangalore.

Addressing a press conference to launch their 'Prestige Kensington Garden' project here on Wednesday, Irfan Razack, chairman and managing director of Prestige Group said that the company plans to raise the funds for the investment through a combination of debt and internal accruals.

The Prestige Group has recorded a turnover of Rs 357 crore in 2004-05, compared to Rs 215 crore in 2003-04. This year it is targetting a turnover of Rs 400 crore. The company declined to reveal the earnings accumulated from which half the investment will come.

The Prestige Group along with Silverline Estates, which owns the land, launched the residential project 'Prestige Kensington Garden' at BEL Circle near Jalahalli. "The land for the residential project measuring 7.6 acre was procured during public sector HMT's land auction recently," said Farook Mahmood of Silverline Real Estate. The project will comprise of 419 apartments in 2o3 bedrooms formats in four towers and has a sale value of Rs 190 crore, he added.

On Outer Ring Road near Sarjapur junction, an IT-SEZ is being taken up where Cisco has committed to taking up 1.5 million square feet to house its Bangalore operations, said Razack. The company has taken up development of three hotels, a serviced apartment and a golf resort.

Prominent among them are Hilton Hotel on a four-acre plot of land close to M G Road, a five-star hotel at Prestige Shantineketan at Whitefield, a 100-bed airport hotel in collaboration with the Taj Group near Devanahalli. The golf resort is to come up near Nandi Hills on a 300-acre plot.

The serviced apartment for Oakwood at UB City is in its final stages of construction and is expected to be operational by the year-end.

In the retail real estate sphere, based on the success of Forum and Eva Malls, the company is taking up construction of 'Retail Park' at Prestige Ozone and 'Forum II' at Prestige Shantineketan in the Whitefield, said Razack.

The one million square feet the UB City project is to be inaugurated by the year-end. The project has one lakh square feet of high-end retail space, 2 lakh square feet of serviced apartments, 6 lakh square feet of commercial office space and the balance 1 lakh square feet to house offices of UB Group.