CapitaLand Investment Limited (CLI) has began operations for Phase-I of the International Tech Park Chennai, Radial Road (ITPC-Radial Road), the first business park in India to be certified by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) as Net Zero for energy efficiency, water conservation and waste management, a statement from CLI said.
It stated that the 5 million square feet (sq ft) business park will offer four Grade-A office blocks with the capacity to house over 50,000 IT service professionals upon completion. In Phase-I, the 1.3 million sq ft office block has already signed a lease commitment with Vestas Wind Technology India for about 250,000 sq ft of office space and continues to attract active tenant interest. The development of Phas-II is currently underway and is set to begin operations by 2Q 2024.
The launch of ITPC-Radial Road was graced by the Thir MK Stalin, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu; Dr TRB Rajaa, Minister for Industries, Investment Promotion and Commerce, Government of Tamil Nadu; TM Anbarsan, Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of Tamil Nadu; senior leaders from CLI including Miguel Ko, Chairman, CLI and Sanjeev Dasgupta, CEO, CLI India and Masanori Iwase, Executive Officer, Mitsubishi Estate, the statement added.
Rajaa said in the statement, “CapitaLand, formerly Ascendas, has been Tamil Nadu’s trusted partner for two decades, powering our knowledge economy and providing the infrastructure for several IT and ITES companies. We congratulate them on their latest project in Chennai, International Tech Park, Radial Road. We are happy to see our relationship with CapitaLand continue, reaffirming their faith in Tamil Nadu as a globally-preferred IT destination. In the past two years, under the leadership of Honourable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Thiru MK Stalin, we have attracted some of the largest global organisations to our state for their offices, global capability centres and R&D centres, and projects such as these are crucial to the state meeting our investors’ rapidly growing high-quality office space demands.”
Phase-I and Phase-II of ITPC-Radial Road, which comprises 2.6 million sq ft of office space, is being developed by CLI under the newly-launched CapitaLand India Growth Fund 2 (CIGF2), with a target fund size of $525 million to invest in Grade-A business parks in prime locations across gateway cities in India. In August 2023, CLI secured $262.5 million (Rs 16.3 billion) from Mitsubishi Estate for a 50 per cent stake in the fund’s first closing. CIGF2 has since acquired a 70 per cent equity stake in ITPC-Radial Road as a seed asset from CLI for S$95 million (INR 5.9 billion) and the remaining 30 per cent stake is held by CLI. CLI continues to manage ITPC-Radial Road after its divestment, the statement further mentioned.
Dasgupta, CEO, CLI India, also said in the statement, “CLI has witnessed Tamil Nadu’s transformation over the last 18 years since we entered Chennai, and the city is now among the fastest-growing markets within India for CLI where we have the most diversified portfolio of assets. This is a testament to the state’s business-friendly environment and skilled workers.”
CLI first entered Chennai with the establishment of International Tech Park Chennai – Taramani1 (ITPC-Taramani), the city’s first private IT park, in 2005. CLI’s portfolio in Chennai now comprises IT parks, industrial parks, logistics and warehousing and lodging assets, concluded the statement.