Quess Corp founder makes the city’s costliest property buy at Rs 70k/sq ft

Bengaluru: In what is touted as Bengaluru's most expensive land deal, Ajit Isaac, founder and chairman of staffing company Quess Corp, has purchased a 10,000 square foot plot at a staggering Rs 70,300 per square feet, a total of Rs 67.5 crore. 

The land, in the upscale Koramangala 3rd Block, was sold to Isaac by a couple -- Arvind and Geeta Reddy -- who ran a family business prior to their retirement.

The deal was closed last week and the land will be utilised to develop a residential property, sources with knowledge of the matter, told DH. Prior to this, a 9,488 square foot plot sold to TVS Motors in the same locality at Rs 68,597 per square feet, held the tag of the most expensive realty deal in the state capital.

The tony neighbourhood, also referred as 'Billionaire Street', is home to the who's who of the city, including Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal, Infosys co-founders Nandan Nilekani and Kris Gopalakrishnan, Raja Bagmane of Bagmane Developers, Narayana Health's Dr Devi Shetty and politician Rajeev Chandrasekhar. 

Property consultancy Colliers, which was the deal advisor for the transaction, declined to answer DH's query seeking a comment.

"These are not comparable transactions vis-a-vis the broader market dynamics," Shantanu Mazumder, executive director for Bengaluru at property consultancy Knight Frank India, said. He credited a supply crunch in the prime locality, combined with rising aspirations and appetite of Indians to pay for boutique end-use projects, for the high valuation.

However, it must be noted that the Garden City has been in the spotlight for its soaring property prices. According to a Knight Frank report released earlier this month, average residential real estate prices in Bengaluru during the January-March quarter of calendar 2024 grew 9% year-on-year, second only to Hyderabad at 13%. Sequentially, this marked a 4% growth from the previous quarter (October-December).

Isaac set up Quess Corp in 2007, which has since grown into a $2 billion company with its footprint spread across nine countries, employing a workforce of over 5 lakh. He has also drawn attention for his philanthropic engagements.