MUMBAI: TomTom, Netherlands-based navigation technology and mapping firm, has taken more than 115,000 square feet of office space near Aga Khan Palace on Pune’s Nagar Road on a 10-year lease, said three persons with direct knowledge of the development.
The rental has been agreed at around Rs 85 per sq foot per month and the agreement includes a clause to revise the rental every three years, they said. The rental for the total tenure of the lease works out to more than Rs 120 crore.
The space is part of Shanti One office park, which is the first transit oriented office development in Pune. TomTom recently signed a deal with Chinese phone maker Huawei to put TomTom maps on its phones after being cut off from using Google Maps owing to the US government’s ban.
“The agreement has been inked recently. TomTom’s India operations team is expected to occupy the new office in a few weeks as fit-out work is being carried out now,” said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified.
TomTom is known for navigation and mapping technology and devices. Shanti One is a real estate developer and part of C&C Alpha Group, an international private equity firm headquartered in London and operating globally with a focus on commercial and retail assets in India.
Over the past decade, the group has developed 2 million sq ft of commercial and retail spaces, and is in process of building a portfolio of additional 3 million sq ft space that is under various stages of development, in six major cities across the country.
Queries emailed by ET to TomTom and Shanti One remained unanswered till press time on Thursday.
Sustained robust demand for office spaces pushed leasing activity across the country in 2019 to a record high. Gross office leasing volume increased to 69.4 million sq ft in 2019 from 49.5 million sq ft in the previous year, showed data from Cushman & Wakefield.
While leasing activity grew 40% year-on-year growth, pre-leasing activity surged to a record level. Vacancy levels stayed low despite robust supply and rentals went up.
Information technology and business process management sector continued to be the largest demand driver in 2019, with a share of 32.6% in leasing activity, followed by captive and global capability centres at 19.8% share of total leasing. Office vacancy in Pune dropped to the lowest in the country owing to a healthy demand, followed by Bengaluru at 5.2%, Hyderabad at 5.5% and Chennai 9.7%.
With robust office space take-up, falling vacancy levels and rising rentals, India continues to be a preferred destination for global institutional investors.
February 01, 2020