Office shells

Nobody thought the IT boom would slow down, especially after the spectacular rise of the ITES / BPO industry. Real estate developers vied with each other to put up office towers, trying to flog such tiny standalone towers as the next thing in the city to Tidel Park. Of course the major thing they had in common with Tidel Park was the rates; the facilities were of course a far cry from what Tidel offers.

Now, when the commercial real estate market in the city is in deep trouble, such buildings can be seen in several places. Estimates of vacant IT- / ITES- ready office space in Chennai range from 2 million to 4 million square feet. Many of these builders are stuck because they had taken advantage of concessional rates allowed by the government on construction material for IT Parks, which means building shells such as this one, probably, cannot be converted for any other commercial use.

So they sit, with their gaping holes, hoping for the economy to rev back on to those wonderful growth rates that were being quoted as a 'sure thing' just a couple of months ago!

More on the 'Park' theme...

West Chennai's answer to Tidel Park has been the Olympia Tech Park (OTP), across the road from the Guindy Industrial Estate. The Industrial Estate itself has been trying to re-emerge as a location of choice for new age industries; with a couple of large buildings, it is certainly not a location to be ignored, if one is interested in such things.

The OTP has come up where the Eveready factory used to be earlier. It does not obviously acknowledge its earlier avatar and has certainly been able to shake off any past associations. But it has not been able to establish itself as THE showpiece high-tech workplace in this part of the city, which is something that Tidel Park has been able to hold on to.

Being set close to the road, it does not have the 'grand entrance' feel that Tidel Park has; more so because the 3 buildings (Citius, Altius, Fortius) together do not have as much space as the one big block at Tidel does!

(Maybe I'm biased, having worked out of Tidel, and not even having visited OTP!)