DLF leases 2 lakh sq ft to Facebook

New Delhi: Realty developer DLF, backed by Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC, has leased 2 lakh square feet of office space to Facebook in Gurgaon’s Cyber city. People aware of the development said the space was taken after another company vacated the building located on National Highway 8.“The space has been taken at DLF Atria, on NH8. Average rental in the area is Rs 120 per sq ft per month,” said a senior executive aware of the matter.The company is also developing an 11-million-sq-ft project, DLF Downtown, in Gurgaon under DLF Cyber City Developers Ltd (DCCDL), which is a joint venture between DLF and GIC. Besides, it is leasing space in the existing buildings, which is being vacated by existing customers.“We do not comment on individual deals due to client confidentiality,” said Sriram Khattar, the managing director for rental business at DLF.Facebook did not respond to an email seeking comment.DLF has identified a development pipeline of 20 million sq ft across India and construction of 5.5 million sq ft is underway. This will augment the company’s existing 32 million sq ft rental portfolio and it plans to take the national portfolio to over 50 million sq ft once new projects are completed.Promoters of DLF have sold their 33.34% stake in this rental arm, DCCDL, to GIC for nearly Rs 9,000 crore. The transaction was concluded in December 2017, and the company now holds the balance 66.66% in DCCDL.According to international property consultant Knight Frank, in 2019 the office market in the National Capital Region has recorded transactions of 0.80 million sq metres (8.6 million sq ft), registering growth of 17% over the previous year. Though the year saw robust office leasing across micro markets, significant growth in the pent-up supply has translated to a higher vacancy level of 17.1% in the second half, compared with 16.1% in H2 2018. However, office vacancy in the locations of Gurgaon, such as DLF CyberCity, Golf Course Road and Aerocity in the Secondary Business District of Delhi, has reduced to single digit with occupiers such as Accenture, Goodyear Tyres, GoWork, CampUs, KPMG and OneCulture taking up substantial space.Gurgaon led the transaction activity yet again in 2019, taking up a 65% share from the overall NCR leasing activity. Registering year-over-year growth of 15%, the leasing activity in Gurgaon was driven by companies such as Concentrix, Google, Oyo, Huawei, Simpliworks and Genpact, which on an average leased more than 50,000 sq ft of floor space.

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