Inching towards 'Greater Bangalore'

REAL ESTATE TRENDS

That Bangalore has developed beyond imagination is a given. Areas such as Whitefield, Bannerghatta Road, Marathahalli once considered to be the outskirts of the city, have now joined the ranks of almost saturated zones in Bangalore. So when the international airport set base in Devanahalli, it was like the opening of a goodie bag in terms of potential for realty development. With development – commercial, retail as well as residential on the rise in this area, the idea of a Greater Bangalore, on the lines of Navi Mumbai or Noida and Gurgaon is gradually taking shape. 

A look at some of the opinions on Greater Bangalore being a possibility. 

Potential yes, but infrastructure?

For the development of any area, basic infrastructural necessities continue to be water supply, connectivity in terms of roads as well as other amenities such as schools, hospitals and entertainment options. Most developers are of the opinion that North Bangalore does have the potential of becoming Greater Bangalore in the next three-five years. However, Karun Varma, Managing Director, Bangalore and Kochi, Jones Lang LaSalle India says, “It will probably take another 10 years before this development reaches the degree of advancement currently enjoyed by Navi Mumbai and Noida. There are currently infrastructure challenges in many parts of North Bangalore, primarily related to water availability due to a lack of sufficient pipelines. That said, the arrival of the airport has certainly upped the ante in North Bangalore, with a lot of real estate growth evident in the areas along Outer Ring Road and a slow but steady progression of this development towards the airport site at Devanahalli.”

Nejeeb Khan, MD, KGD, an architectural and engineering firm feels that residential growth is an integral part of the city’s development. He says, “We need to have more integrated townships planned to maintain a good mix of a residential and commercial development catering the growing needs, as against the old school of thought which comprises of commercial zone at one end and the residential at the other. Such a structure is no more sustainable in Indian context.” And that is where North Bangalore is more pliant. 

Commercial yet to catch up

Echoing this thought of realty growth Irshad Ahmed, President, Bangalore Realtors Association of India says, “The residential development is far ahead of commercial here. Due to the good connectivity and infrastructure coming up in North Bangalore, handling large residential and commercial growth will not be a problem.”

As far as other amenities go, T S Sateesh, Managing Director, Hoysala Projects says, “BIAL has been a major driving factor for the development here. World over cities have been built around airports and Bangalore is also no exception to this. North Bangalore is very well connected today with major and wide roads leading to it. There are a lot of proposed infrastructural developments in North Bangalore in the near future like the BDA Peripheral Ring Road, the High Speed Rail Link, the elevated expressway and broadening of the Bellary Road. All these hold promise for making North Bangalore the most sought after self-sustained destination. Already, the area is a haven for good schools like Vidyashilp, DPS, Canadian International, TRIO World school and engineering colleges like VIT, MS Ramaiah etc. North Bangalore is all set to become ‘Greater Bangalore’ or ‘Hosa Bengaluru’!”

North Bangalore’s USP

For starters, it has the international airport and as pointed out, historically cities have been built around airports. Goutam Chakraborty, Director, Office Services, (Bangalore & Hyderabad), Colliers India points out that any growth in residential segment depends on couple of factors like connectivity, commercial growth and land availability. If the basic infrastructure is taken care of, then North Bangalore will be well equipped to handle any kind of residential growth. Its biggest advantage is definitely the connectivity and the huge availability of land which is a prerequisite for any kind of development. 

Karun Varma adds that greater availability of big land parcels for the formation of large residential projects and commercial complexes is an added advantage and considerable investment value since property prices are still relatively reasonable. The arrival of the airport in North Bangalore has started to raise the stakes in property pricing, and the long-term investment potential is excellent as compared to more saturated areas.

Development in the area is already underway with several projects in various brackets. This has ensured that North Bangalore gets the attention it deserves in terms of infrastructure development. Bijay Agarwal, Managing Director, Salarpuria Sattva says, “North Bangalore will certainly emerge as Greater Bangalore in the days to come. Developmental works such as the proposed high speed rail link till International Airport, state- of -the -art race course near Chikkajala on the way to Andhra Pradesh, several 5-star hotels in the pipeline, technical and software parks planned by the state government near Devanahalli  etc will pave the way for its development. Further the entire stretch is more conducive for residential growth as there are no industries there. Even software companies are likely to plan expansion here. To meet the water requirement in this area, the state government is contemplating channeling Hemavathy and Krishna waters to this part of Bangalore.”

T S Sateesh adds to this saying that the stretch, especially from Hebbal to Devanahalli is seeing a lot of large scale residential real estate activity. ISKCON is planning an ISKCON City which will be a huge residential project here.

Nejeeb Khan says that the major advantage is that it is a “green field” development area with a clutter-free zone for a planned integrated living space. In India the biggest challenge faced is to increase the quality of living at affordable prices. Hence, areas like North Bangalore enjoy the benefit of creating better living spaces. 

And the flip side is…

There is a downside to North Bangalore that can hinder its progress towards becoming ‘Greater Bangalore’. Goutam Chakroborty says, “One of the biggest problems of that location is water supply. Another major concern is the high land FSI cost. It will definitely become a very important micro market of Bangalore, but the time line depends on the local government initiatives to solve the present problem.” Nejeeb Khan feels that though this is a very lucrative sector, nothing much has been done in terms of strategic planning for the region. Hence, the only bottleneck currently faced is the lack of proper planning guidelines. 
  
Only time will tell whether North Bangalore actually takes shape. Till then, the field remains open for structured planning and development of the area.

REPORT CARD

* Scope for development: Primarily residential, with several commercial and retail prospects as well. A number of businesses may expand into this area.

*Residential development targeted at: Middle and upper middle class, IT/ITeS and an equal importance to non-IT sector, businessmen and segment of the NRI crowd.

* ‘Greater Bangalore’ status: Three-five years depending on government’s pro-activeness in addressing infrastructural related issues

* Residential price bands

Average price band is between Rs 3500 – Rs 4000/- per sft for villas

* The prices of luxury built up apartments are Rs 75 lakh+, prices of mid segment homes are Rs 50 lakh +, budget housing start at Rs  25 lakh and villas vary from Rs 1.5 crore to  Rs 5 crore.

* Current plus points

* The International Airport at Devanahalli

* High levels of connectivity to the city

*Broad roads

*Large parcels of land

*Lower rates of pollution

*Several high profile schools, hospitals and retail outlets

*Current negative aspects:

Lack of water to several partsLack of strategic city planning

High FSI cost in terms of land

*Proposed projects

Software parks by the State government

ISKCON residential city

(This report card is put together based on the opinions of those quoted in the story.)