Big names in the IT space have signed up, says developer.

The World Trade Center, coming up at Perungudi on the OMR and touted as the “tallest commercial establishment in the city”, will kick off operations by March 2020.

“We have signed up with some big names in the IT sector. Caterpillar and McKinsey are two names that I can disclose now. We have a non-disclosure agreement with others and prefer to stay silent now. We will commence operations by the end of this financial year,” M.R. Jaishankar, Chairman and Managing Director of Brigade Group, told The Hindu.

The project, which entails investments to the tune of ₹1,000 crore, was undertaken by the Brigade Group in collaboration with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.

An MoU regarding this was signed during the second edition of the Global Investors Meet (GIM 2019), in the presence of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami. In 2015, the land for this venture was purchased from Kansai Nerolac Paints for ₹537.86 crore. The acquisition was then done through Perungudi Real Estates, a special purpose vehicle formed by Brigade Enterprises and GIC.

Two towers

Pointing towards the building where final construction work is under progress, Mr. Jaishankar, said, “This will be the tallest establishment in Chennai with SEZ benefits. There are two towers — the first will have three basements and ground plus 27 floors and the second building will have ground plus 19 floors.”

Once fully operational, this facility can house 20,000-25,000 employees. The total development potential of WTC Chennai is approximately 2.6 million sq. ft. Another open plot right next to the commercial structure has been reserved for the residential project which will commence in November this year.

“It will take 30 months to finish the project. The idea is to have a walk-to-work concept,” he added. The group will be constructing 300 high-end residential apartments (under 2,000 sq. ft. each).

‘Promising demand’

Mr. Jaishankar said that the demand for IT space was promising. Real estate analysts explained that there was a slight dip in the market due to lack of supply of IT office space in Chennai.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle, demand for investment grade buildings which are ready for fitouts is high from IT occupiers. The average annual gross demand is 4.5 million sq. in Chennai.