Big Listed Players Upping Their Ante

Capitalizing on the favourable economic climate and surge in  demand for quality retail real estate space, large listed real estate companies are out doing land shopping and getting into joint developments to expand their operations in not just their well established markets, but also in newer markets.

Vinod Behl

Bangalore- based Prestige Group has drawn massive expansion plans across residential, retail, commercial and hospitality segments. It has planned a capex of Rs 16000  for office , retail and hotel businesses over the next 4-5 years. Outside southern markets of Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, Prestige is expanding into Mumbai, Pune and Delhi- NCR. The company wants to double its residential sales by FY 26 through expansion  in new cities. In a latest initiative, Prestige Group will be developing a luxury housing project in central Delhi  in partnership with TDI. It is already developing a mid-income housing project in partnership with Ace Group  in Sector 150 Noida.  In the Delhi- NCR market, it is also constructing a commercial project in Aero City, Delhi. For Mumbai market, Prestige Group has plans to to invest 7500 crore to develop 16 msf over the next 4-5 years.  apanning 6 projects across residential, office and hospitality segments.

Prestige Group which had sold two third of its retail business to Blackstone-backed Nexus Malls (comprising 7 malls over 4.4 million square feet) for Rs 9000 crore, now plans to rebuild its mall portfolio with 8 new properties in the next 4 years.

In the wake of the resurgence of shopping malls and high street retail, DLF is upping its retail play., largely cenred around Delhi-NCR.  The realty major will start constructing a 25 lakh square feet mall costing Rs 1700 crore in Gurgaon in this festive quarter followed by a premium mall in Goa by 2025.   According to Pushpa Bector, Senior Executive Director & Head of Retail, DLF, the company is looking to enhance its retail footprint by 6.5 million square feet by 2025, from the current portfolio of 4.5 million square feet. The expansion strategy revolves around neigbourhood plazas and destination malls. Two such plazas are coming up in Delhi. Plans are also afoot to set up office amenities in commercial buildings. These will be 1 lakh square feet in size flexi spaces housing banks, food and wellness businesses. DLF is looking to set up 4-5 such spaces by 2024. Besides Delhi, DLF is eyeing Chennai market for this format. As part of its expansion plan, DLF Group is also looking at strengthening its luxury retail real estate portfolio by expanding DLF Emperio.

Bombay Realty, the realty arm of the Bombay Dyeing Group  is mulling its foray into holiday homes segment and warehousing to emerge as a significant player in the listed real estate space. Bombay Dyeing recently sold 22 acre of prime land parcel in Mumbai to Japan’s Sumitomo for Rs 5200 crore and considerably improved its cash flows. The company is also expecting a revenue of Rs 15000 crore from its 3.5 million square feet project in Dadar, Mumbai which it plans to launch in Q1 or Q2 of next year.

As there is big demand for holiday homes in hill stations, Bombay Realty will be looking to develop holiday homes in popular hill resorts of Mahabaleshwar and Matheran  in Maharashtra.

Bombay Realty wants to be a full play realty company. According to Rahul Anand, CEO, Bombay Realty  will be open to look at opportunities  in other cities outside Mumbai . And the company’s strategy will revolve around  joint ventures and joint developments with land owners. Besides this Bombay Realty will be developing the land parcels of group companies.

Godrej Properties as part of its expansion plans, intends to make significant  land purchases  for development in 2023-24. Last fiscal the company had  made 18 land purchases  with a combined post-development potential of Rs 32000 crore..   has  recently acquired  nearly 110 acres of land parcel in Nagpur for undertaking a residential plotted development with a saleable area upwards of 2 million square feet. Godrej Properties  is  largely banking on asset light model of development  through  joint developments, besides outright land purchases. The company has recently acquired  about 110 acres of land parcel in Nagpur to have a plotted residential development  with a saleable area of over 2 million square feet. Earlier in July this year, Godrej Properties had acquired two group housing plots on Golf Course Road  through bidding. Both the plots measuring about 8 acres  have a combined revenue potential of about Rs 3100 crore. The company is also in the process of developing a luxury group housing project with a development potential of 7.5 lakh square feet in Koregaon Pune  over 4 acres of land parcel which was acquired in April  Prior to this a 28 acre land parcel was acquired near Whitefield to develop a mixed-use project.