Listening Post

Accelerating expansion

The Ascott Ltd, a wholly-owned lodging business unit of Singapore’s CapitaL and Investment Ltd, has opened its first apartment hotel – Citadines at Paras Square in Gurugram. Catering to both business and leisure travellers, the apartment hotel, featuring 94 beautifully appointed units, ranging from studios and one-bedroom to two-bedroom partments, has come up in partnership with Paras Buildtech. Citadines Paras Square Gurugram is the first property in North India under Ascott’s portfolio, which now boasts a total of 18 properties – both operating and in the pipeline across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Goa, Chennai and Gurugram. Since pioneering Asia Pacific’s first international-class serviced residence with the opening of The Ascott Singapore in 1984, Ascott has grown to be a trusted hospitality company with about 950 properties globally. Headquartered in Singapore, Ascott’s presence extends across more than 220 cities in over 40 countries in Asia-Pacific, Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the US . Ascott’s diversified accommodation offerings span serviced residences, co-living properties, hotels and independent senior living apartments, as well as student accommodation and rental housing. CapitaLand Investment, a leading global real asset manager with a strong Asia foothold, had S$134 billion worth of assets under management, as well as nearly S$100 billion of funds under management-held via six listed real estate investment trusts and business trusts and more than 30 private vehicles across Asia Pacific, Europe and the US , as of 31 December 2023.

Ramping up presence

TVS ILP , a part of TVS Mobility Group, a leader in the ware housing industry, has broken ground for a new state-ofthe-art warehouse in Cuttack, Odisha. The event marks a significant milestone in the company’s expansion efforts in eastern markets. The upcoming facility spans 24 acres of land, housing two large warehouses totalling 500,000 sq ft, catering sectors like FMCG , FMCD , 3PL , and e-commerce. With its presence at a strategic location at the confluence of the Mumbai and Chennai-Kolkata highways, it enjoys excellent connectivity to the Paradip port and the major parts of the country. TVS will invest about Rs.125 crore in the project and expects its completion by the end of December 2024. Additionally, as part of TVS’s commitment to sustainability, the logistics park will incorporate green building principles, focussing on energy efficiency, water conservation and the use of sustainable materials. Plans are underway to certify the park with the Edge Advanced Green Building certification issued by the International Finance Corporation. In addition to the Cuttack project, TVS ILP remains committed to exploring similar opportunities in other Tier II towns in Odisha, building on its successful track record as the first national logistics park player to enter the state. Incorporated in 2005, the company has been providing comprehensive warehousing solutions that are tailored to meet the unique needs of our clients. It specialises in a variety of warehouse services, including manufacturing, procurement, distribution and storage facilities.

Building portfolio

Brigade Enterprises Ltd has entered into a joint development agreement with Agni Estates & Foundations Pvt Ltd to develop Brigade Tech Boulevard, a ‘Grade A’ office space on Pallavaram- Thoraipakkam Radial Road, in Chennai. With an investment of about R400 crore, the project will have a leasable area of 836,000 sq ft, spread across two towers. This will be the first commercial launch by Brigade Group after the successful ompletion of the landmark ‘World Trade Center’ on OMR . In recent years, Brigade’s successes in developments such as the Holiday Inn Hotel and Brigade Xanadu Residential Township are testament to the group’s commitment to high quality sustainable projects. Over the years, the company has developed many landmark buildings and transformed the skyline of cities across South India, with developments across the residential, commercial, retail, hospitality and education sectors. Since its inception, Brigade has completed 280+ buildings amounting to over 83 million sq ft of developed space across a diverse real estate portfolio.