Goldman Sachs Group has entered into a long-term lease transaction for 1.5 lakh sq.ft. office space in Knowledge City in Hyderabad — a joint venture project between real estate developer Salarpuria Sattva Group and private equity major Blackstone Group. 

Although the scale of the deal is initially set at around 1.5 lakh sq.ft, the lease agreement allows the space to be expanded to around 0.5 million sq.ft later by the American multinational investment bank and financial services giant, depending on development requirements

Global Shared Services Footprint to Come Up in Hyderabad

The property is already fully furnished. By the end of the first half of 2021, Goldman Sachs will be capable of launching operations in this new office. For this office space, Goldman Sachs will pay lease rentals of Rs 125 per sq.ft a month. The maximum term of the lease agreement will be five years, including a three-year lock-in period.

This will be the first office in Hyderabad of such a New York-based company and will complement its Bengaluru office that assists its global businesses in execution and support. In Hyderabad's dedicated Information Technology (IT) zone - HITEC city - Salarpuria Sattva Knowledge City is one of the largest IGBC certified platinum-rated green buildings, a primary parameter for international occupiers.

The IT park is built on 172 acres along the Hyderabad IT corridor and is nearing the completion of the last phase of the project. Multinational firms, including JP Morgan, State Street, Novartis, Microsoft, ServiceNow and EPAM Systems, are already listed as key tenants in the project.

Goldman Sachs New Office 

The Blackstone Group had invested in this project in 2016, as part of its partnership with Salarpuria Sattva. In order to gain a 50 percent interest, Blackstone has so far invested $200 million in three Salarpuria properties in Hyderabad.

Despite the ongoing challenge of the work from a home model, commercial real estate has continued to demonstrate a strong pipeline and transaction conclusion. In December, net absorption growth in the office property across India's key property markets amounted to 50 per cent per quarter.

The US multinational company Qualcomm has leased 1.6 million sq.ft commercial space in real-estate developer K Raheja Corps IT park Hyderabad in the country's largest commercial office leasing transaction to date this year.

This commitment to the large office space of the Commerzone Madhapur development project is part of Qualcomm's strategy of growth and consolidation and will take 10 years to conclude.

In Hyderabad, the southern markets were driven with absorption and demand, as their share of over half the net absorption was demonstrated. In the December quarter, the office space transactions in Hyderabad accounted for over 600 percent in the quarter.

By: Shailaja K