Tishman Speyer opens its first IT park in India

HYDERABAD, INDIA: Tishman Speyer, one of the world's leading developers of real estate, Tuesday unveiled its first property in Asia, commissioning the first phase of the Waverock IT Park here.

The US-based developer also launched the second phase of the project, a joint venture between Tishman and ICICI Ventures, which has come up at a special economic zone at Nanakramguda, Gachibowli, an IT district on the city's outskirts.

Comprising two phases, Waverock has come up on 12 acres of land for providing 2.46 million square feet IT office space to provide employment opportunity to 25,000 people.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah commissioned the first phase, comprising 700,000 square feet with 10 floors to seat 7,000 professionals. The first phase, built at a cost of Rs.600 crore, began partial operations in February.

Waverock phase II is estimated to cost Rs.700 crore. When completed, it will provide 1.65 million square feet office space. It will be developed in three sub-phases and will be 15-19 storey-high with a total area of 650,000 square feet each.

TCS has begun its operations in Waverock while Accenture and Invesco will start their offices shortly.

Tishman had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government in 2006 to build the facility. ICICI Ventures is 50 percent partner in the joint venture.

Company officials said 80 percent of the phase I capacity at Waverock was committed. "This is the first building our company has finished in Asia," said Jerry Speyer, chairman and co-chief executive, Tishman Speyer.

India is the 11th country where Tishaman has launched operations.

Tishman, which raises and manages private equity funds for real estate across the world, currently has $50 billion of assets under management.

Rosaiah said Hyderabad had made a mark in the world IT map with manpower and world-class IT infrastructure. He said the state aimed to achieve IT export turnover of Rs.70,000 crore and additional direct IT employment generation of 125,000 by 2015.

The IT export turnover from the state in 2009 was Rs.32,500 crore. There are over 1,200 companies providing employment to 251,786 people.