SmartOwner forays into commercial realty with techpark in Bengaluru

SmartOwner Services India, a property investment management marketplace company, is now foraying into the commercial office space sector after executing residential projects.

“For our entry, we have taken up five lakh square feet grade A project – One-Tech-Park at Hebbal in Bengaluru with an outlay of over Rs 100 crore,” Vikram Chari, founder & CEO of SmartOwner told BusinessLine.

“The project being a LEED Platinum rating, it will be executed in two phases of 2.5 lakh each. The phase I will be ready for occupation by the end of this calendar year,” he added.

The company is also working on a coworking space project in Pune.

Smartowner, in its residential business, has six projects which include luxury villas, apartments, integrated townships with a capital outlay of ₹600 crore.

Chari said “At the moment, we have taken up two apartments, one villa plus plot project which are RERA approved for marketing. While two villa projects are in advance planning stages.”

Business outlook

Talking about Covid-19 challenges, Chari said “The Year 2020 has been a good year for the company. We strengthened our portfolio in Bengaluru and executed the demand surge for large spacious homes."

Banking on good demand from NRIs and HNIs, the company launched luxury villas - Beverly Woods off Sarjapur Road in Bengaluru, two projects - Centreo, on Kanakapura Road and The Treeline at Jakkur in luxury and ultra-luxury apartment segments.

Talking about 2021 and demand for housing, Chari explained: “We see the demand for premium living spaces grow further in the first-half of 2021 and the company's projects are a step in that direction.”

On Budget 2021 wishlist, Chari said “Our wish first and foremost is the classification of real estate under the infrastructure sector, for the industry to benefit from the priority sector lending by banks. There is also an expectation on the government to lower the GST for all housing categories and reinstating input tax credit for developers. While the final budget sops for real estate are awaited, the industry watches keenly if the limits for affordable housing too will be raised this year.”