Hyderabad ‘LEAPs’ to east: IT parks, high-rises signal realty boom

HYDERABAD: It takes a short 400 metre-drive from the Uppal Metro station to witness the changing face of east Hyderabad, once lingering at the bottom of the reality chain. Now, nondescript homes and mom-and-pop stores here have given way to two sprawling IT Parks — NSL Arena and DSL Abacus — sitting pretty on either side of the 120-feet-wide Ramanthapur road (NH 202).

Together, they have on offer over four million square feet (sft) of high-end office space, with much more in the pipeline. The same site also plays host to the region’s first swank mall-cum-multiplex. Complete with six screens, over 70 small and large retail brands and a string of leading fast-food outlets, ‘DSL Virtue’ is set to open by August. And there’s more: at least two residential high-rises, each over 20 storeys, under planning.
Next stop Nagole, along the same corridor, sports a similar makeover. While the first five kilometres of the drive, into this residential pocket, are dotted with modest, standalone houses; the scene suddenly opens up to expansive gated communities – some under-construction – thereafter.
Driving this unprecedented growth, particularly on the 10-km Uppal-Nagole-LB Nagar stretch, is the Hyderabad Metro rail, say market observers. When TOI travelled by it, the otherwise over two-hour trip (by road) to Hi-Tec City took just over 45 minutes. At present, about one lakh passengers use this Metro route every day. The growing congestion in western Hyderabad (the IT corridor) and the state government’s ‘Look East’ policy, have also played a significant role, they add.
“The area has undergone massive transformation, especially over the last 18-20 months,” said Srikanth Makkapati, founder and managing director of Ace Ventures. His firm, among the few that’s been operating in the belt for a while now, is readying a 150-flat gated community here. The price: Rs 4,800 per sft. “I am confident of this touching Rs 6,000 to Rs 6,500 once the project is complete,” Makkapati said.
Incidentally, the current cost of homes in Miyapur, part of upscale IT hub, hovers in Rs 4,000-Rs 4,500 mark.
Others too share this confidence in the eastern market. “We plan to sell our residential venture at Rs 6,500 per sft. It’ll be ready in three years,” said Madhu Babu Yasangi, assistant general manager, NSL Group.
These homes will come up on five acres, adjacent to its IT buildings in Uppal that has 17 clients – including big names like Cyient and IBM – operating out of its premises.
Home-buyers, predictably, are a happy lot. Especially those like Ram Prasad Chilukuri who’s born and brought up in Malkajgiri. The IT professional recently bought a house in ‘Ace Ajanta’, Nagole.
“I had been scouting for a good property, but nothing appealed to me. Now that I have found this, it serves both my purposes – I can continue to live in and around the place I am familiar with and give my family better amenities,” he said. Developers say, majority of their clientele comprise old-time residents who had no access to ‘A’ grade properties.
But now, with six malls and half a dozen swank flyovers in the making, many big-ticket projects are travelling to eastern zone. Among the many is a residential-commercial-retail project by Gowra Ventures Pvt Ltd – spread over 15 acres — usually operating in Raidurg-Kondapur belt.
“The infrastructure here is under-utilised. If pitched well, it can become the preferred alternative to the existing IT area,” said director of the group, Aditya Gowra.