Real Estate player Sobha enters Gujarat with 500-cr GIFT project

Sobha ‘Marina One’ in Kochi

Bangalore-based real estate player Sobha Ltd said it will enter the Gujarat market with a Rs 500-cr residential project in GIFT City in Ahmedabad.

The project will have about 1,000 apartments that to support the ‘walk to work’ concept underlying the smart city, the company said.

Ajay Pandey, MD and Group CEO of GIFT City said the new project would provide easy and quick residential access to those who work in the City.

“GIFT City is experiencing unprecedented growth in the commercial developments and corporate participation,” he said.

“It has also emerged as one the prominent landmarks in the office market, after witnessing rapid office development by companies from BFSI, IT/ITES and other services sectors. As a result, more developments will be needed to cater to the increasing demand at GIFT City,” he added.

The total built up area of the project will be around 1.3 million square feet, Sobha said.

With the project, Sobha has increased its residential footprint to 10 cities in India, including Bengaluru, Gurugram, Chennai, Pune, Coimbatore, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Cochin and Mysore.

Ravi Menon, Chairman of Sobha said Ahmedabad has emerged as a prominent center for industries like textiles, pharma, petrochemicals, automobiles and IT & BPO.

“These, together, have given a fillip to commercial and residential real estate market in the city… SOBHA will contribute significantly in fulfilling the residential demand,” he said.

Spread over 886 acres of land, GIFT City features include a district cooling system, underground utility tunnel, and automated vacuum waste collection, many of which are being introduced in India for the first time. The city is designed for walkability and includes commercial and residential complexes

The GIFT City project has so far received investment of over INR 11,000 crore with allotment of around 16 Mn sq ft of built up area.

Presently, around 200 companies are operational at GIFT City, employing around 8000 people.

Sobha is one of the largest real estate players in the South, having developed around 89 million square feet of area so far.

The Company currently has ongoing real estate projects aggregating to 41.37 million square feet of developable area and 28.48 million square feet of saleable area, and ongoing contractual projects aggregating to 7.17 million square feet, it said.

The company offers apartments as small as 650 sq. feet to villas of 12,000 sq. feet.

The company also constructs buildings for clients like Infosys, Taj Group, Dell, Biocon, Bosch, Lulu Group and Manipal Group.