Third Trump Property to Open in India

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Trump Tower Chicago

Gurgaon, India—The Trump Organization just announced that the Trump name will be emblazoned on a third building in India, and this time, it will be an office tower. IREO Private Ltd., India’s largest real estate private equity firm, will develop and own a trophy office tower in Gurgaon that will bear the Trump name under a license from DT Tower Gurgaon LLC.

IREO has not disclosed many specifics about the project, however, an architectural firm is aboard. Foster + Partners has been charged with designing the office tower. And of course, a site is in place. The high-end high-rise will have an address on the coveted Golf Course Road Extension, and it will ultimately be part of the IREO City area, a 500-acre mixed-use development.

It’s a good time to build premier office space in Gurgaon. “Gurgaon is already well established as a premier destination for large corporates operating in India. However, despite more than 58 million square feet of total office space, Gurgaon still has a negligible supply of truly A-grade, international quality office spaces,” Lalit Goyal, managing director with IREO, said in a prepared statement.

The office market in Gurgaon, located roughly 20 miles from Delhi, is experiencing quite the upswing, having recorded nearly 5.6 million square feet of positive absorption in 2015 for a year-over-year increase of 18 percent, as noted in a report by commercial real estate services firm Colliers International. Strong demand can be attributed to the tech and financial services sectors. And if big names are any indication, then Gurgaon is indeed a hot market. Last year, Google India leased 400,000 square feet and Snapdeal staked a claim to 500,000 square feet.

Not only is Gurgaon the city to be in, Golf Course Road Extension is the street to be on these days. The Golf Course Road Extension submarket accounted for 17 percent of the city’s notable office absorption last year. “Golf Course Road and its extension remained the most preferred market among occupiers,” according to the Colliers report.

It’s no fleeting trend; all signs point to the Gurgaon office market’s long-term success. Despite increasing construction activity, the absorption, rental value and capital value figures are on track to increase through 2017, per the Colliers report, and vacancies are expected to continue to drop.

The IREO project will mark the first Trump-branded office development in India. The other two Trump properties in the country are Trump Tower Prune, a two-building residential destination, and Trump Tower Mumbai, which will offer residences in a 75-story skyscraper.

Image courtesy of Trump Chicago