The Hindu Business Line : Media house redeveloping city office into mall?

Corporate - Diversification
Industry & Economy - Newspapers & Publishing
Marketing - Retailing
States - West Bengal
Media house redeveloping city office into mall?

Somasroy Chakraborty

Statesman plans to redevelop its city office into a mall.

THE COMPOUND of The Statesman House in Kolkata — a heritage structure — converted into a construction site. A two-storey building has been razed to the ground to make way for a development not connected with newspaper- publishing.

Kolkata June 19 Now it's the turn of the media houses to take advantage of the retail and realty boom in the country. Kolkata-based The Statesman plans to redevelop its city office into a mall.

The Statesman House in central Kolkata, which is a landmark and also a heritage structure, has a lot of space inside the premises, which has currently been converted into a large construction site. A two-storey building in the compound has already been pulled down and the printing establishment shifted elsewhere. "The Statesman House will be redeveloped into a mall. They have been in talks with real estate developers, including Emmar MGF," an industry source told Business Line on condition of anonymity. However, the source could not confirm if the deal has already been struck.

Mr Ravindra Kumar, Editor and Managing Editor, The Statesman, was not available for comment. According to a retail analyst, the ownership of the building will remain with The Statesman Ltd, while the mall will be managed by a professional agency.

"Land prices have sky-rocketed in the past few years. These media houses have offices in primary locations which are likely to attract high rentals and high footfalls," the analyst said. "However, location is not the only factor behind the success of a mall. Malls have to be managed professionally and most probably these media houses will outsource the mall management to some professional agency," the analyst added. According to the industry source, Trent, the retail division of Tata Group, which operates retail chain stores including Westside, Landmark and Star India Bazaar, was at one point of time in talks with The Statesman to take up anchor stores in the proposed mall. However, when contacted, Trent officials denied any such development. "In Kolkata, we plan to have a Westside store in Mani Square (in the eastern part of the city) as of now," Trent officials said.

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