JLL Facilitates WPP's Move to BAY99 at The Orb, Mumbai

JLL India, the country’s largest real estate consultancy and professional services firm, has advised and facilitated a 10 year lease for WPP from Chalet Hotels, for its new office, having a carpet area of 260,000 sq ft, it said in a statement released today. The Firm was also appointed as the project manager to complete fit-outs for the office space, which is situated in The Orb - an integrated food, beverage and entertainment project close to the city’s international airport. The Mumbai campus is named BAY99, which symbolises the city’s historical roots and is also the campus’s postal code reference.

The creative transformation company is bringing together over 16 of its agencies that were previously situated at different locations across Mumbai. According to the terms of the agreement, the space will be leased in three phases. First to co-locate to this campus include Ogilvy this month, followed by other agencies including Wunderman Thompson, Grey, GroupM to name a few in the weeks ahead.

JLL India was the exclusive advisor and project manager to WPP on this transaction.

Ramesh Nair, CEO & Country Head - India, JLL said, “This is a prestigious transaction for us. It showcases JLL’s expertise in advising and structuring large transactions in Mumbai, a highly demand-driven and robust office leasing market. With its well-developed social and physical infrastructure, excellent connectivity to the airport, proximity to ready-to-move in offices and other key locations in the city, the Sahar Area offers the right mix of location and quality space. We believe that this transaction will provide a significant fillip to the overall office leasing market.”

CVL Srinivas, WPP Country Manager, India said, “The plan to establish a WPP Campus in Mumbai is in line with our global strategy of bringing together agency brands like Ogilvy, GroupM, Wunderman Thompson and others into a single integrated office campus. India is a leading growth market for WPP. To support our already strong local presence, we have developed this exciting new workspace that will encourage a fresh approach to creativity, innovation and agile collaboration among our companies. This move also demonstrates our commitment to having best-in-class infrastructure and ensuring that we provide exceptional facilities to our employees and services to our clients.”

According to JLL Research, the commercial office market in India continued its strong streak and exhibited a 21% growth Y-o-Y during H1 2019. Net absorption across the top seven cities touched nearly 22 mn sq ft, indicating optimism amongst occupiers with continuity of governance and a stable government. A ramp-up by co-working players (15% of overall leasing) and occupiers in the IT/ITeS space (37% of overall leasing) drove the strong growth in demand. Mumbai recorded 2.9 mn sq ft of office absorption in H1 2019.

Steady economic growth, favourable policy environment, growing preference of global occupiers for Indian offices and listing of first Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) in the country have put the India office market on a growth path. The recent REIT listing by the Embassy-Blackstone Group Company is an evidence to the trend. As a result, the net absorption is likely to record a new high of 42 mn sq ft by the end of 2019 across the top seven cities in India.

The new office at BAY99 will be unique with its energy efficient systems, process and technologies, enabling a futuristic workplace. Designed to infuse collaboration, the office also has break-out and incubation areas for informal engagements. It is equipped with smart sensors which are triggered by occupancy and has IP POE based CCTV surveillance system. While branding and marketing across the office is done through digital displays, meeting rooms have video conferencing facilities with BYOD and mobile VC solution. The entire office is crafted to reduce waste and help in conservation of natural resources. It offers water-efficient fixtures to avoid waste, focuses on air quality via low VOC paints, adhesives and sealants and has provision for waste segregation at source.