Prestige Group, Awfis to provide 5 lakh sq. ft of flexible working spaces; invest Rs 110 crore

Representative Image (Awfis)

Property developer Prestige Group has joined hands with co-working space provider Awfis for the second time in a year to add 12 centres spread across 5 lakh square feet to its portfolio with an investment of Rs 110 crore.

The companies will invest equally to set up these centres, which will open in the next 30 to 60 days, although the Pune centre is expected to become operational in nine months.

Under the collaboration, Awfis will offer Grade-A flexible office spaces within Prestige Group’s premium commercial properties in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune, with a total capacity of about 10,000 seats.

The 12 centres are in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune – seven in Bengaluru, three in Chennai, and one each in Hyderabad and Pune. These are located in central business districts including UB City, Hosur Road, Whitefield and Outer Ring Road in Bengaluru, Saidapet and Mount Road in Chennai, and Begumpet in Hyderabad.

In March 2021, the two companies had inked a partnership to invest Rs 40 crore on six co-working centres in Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, with a capacity of 4,000 seats spread across 2 lakh sq. ft.

Of these six centres, four are located in Bengaluru’s prime commercial locations of Koramangala, Outer Ring Road and Whitefield, and the other two are in Guindy in Chennai and Begumpet, Hyderabad. All the six centres have been launched.

Growing demand

“The total investment for the 18 centres is expected to touch Rs 150 crore,” Amit Ramani, founder of Awfis, told Moneycontrol. “We have included Pune this time around. This partnership including 12 new centres will touch almost 10,000 seats spread across a total area of almost 5 lakh sq. ft within a year’s time.”

The partnership aims to meet growing demand for co-working spaces from startups, small businesses, and mid- and large-sized companies that are looking to adopt hybrid/agile workplace models in the new normal following the pandemic.

“Both companies aim to cater to the growing demand among enterprise clients and large corporations while continuing to cater to startups and SMEs that were the early adopters of co-working,” he said.

The first centre being inaugurated in line with this announcement is at Prestige Tech Park with a capacity of more than 860 seats, located in Bengaluru’s prominent IT corridor on Outer Ring Road. The centre is part of Awfis’ newly launched premium workspace offering – ‘Awfis Gold’ – and houses premium private workspaces as well as collaborative work environments.

“The positive sentiment that is being witnessed in the market first-hand from all key stakeholders resuscitates this collaborative initiative to nurture the spirit of innovation and grow in the flexible workspace sector,” said Juggy Marwaha, CEO of Prestige Office Ventures.

“Nearly 40 million sq. ft of co-working space is now spread across the length and breadth of this country. We definitely believe that the flex segment of the office landscape will continue to rapidly grow,” Marwaha added.

Awfis currently has 95 centres and 55,000 seats across 12 cities and is close to reaching the 100 centre milestone in a few months.

Tier-II cities

Bengaluru-based Prestige Group has completed 112 commercial projects spread across 36 million sq. ft, with 24 upcoming commercial projects spread across 42 million sq. ft in some of the major cities.

Almost half of the office occupiers that already have a presence in tier-II cities are using flexible spaces due to the availability of shorter leases and a cautious approach by companies towards incurring capital expenditure. As many as 78 percent of these occupiers are expected to expand within the next year, with 84 percent wanting to utilise flex spaces, a survey by Jones Lang LaSalle and Awfis showed.

Tier-II cities are also gaining momentum with occupiers looking to enhance their presence, given the business opportunity in the interiors and talent availability with the reverse migration that followed the Covid-19 outbreak.

The total flex stock is 38 million sq. ft, which includes over 550,000 operational seats. Among the top seven cities, Bengaluru is the clear leader accounting for 34 percent of the total flex stock. Large enterprise deals of over 1,000 seats account for about 36 percent of the total market activity since 2020, the survey showed.