Gera Developments buys 22-acre land parcel in Pune for Rs 180 crore

MUMBAI: Realty developer Gera Developments bought a 22-acre land parcel in Pune’s Wagholi locality from promoters of Goel Ganga Group for Rs 180 crore, two persons with direct knowledge of the development, said.
Gera Developments is currently in advanced talks with HDFC Capital Advisors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of India’s largest mortgage lender HDFC, to invest about Rs 100 crore in this project.

“The land deal has been concluded recently. Negotiations between HDFC Capital and Gera Developments are at an advanced stage and both the entities are about to decide on structure and mode of the investment,” said one of the persons mentioned above.

HDFC Capital’s exposure to the project is expected to be in the form of financial support for the land acquisition. While the developer raised funds from HDFC for construction finance earlier, this will be HDFC Capital’s first association with the company.

Gera Developments, recently rated AA- by CARE Ratings, has total 4 million sq ft of residential and commercial projects in Pune, Bengaluru and Goa.

Gera Developments is expected to develop a residential project on the land parcel in in Wagholi through multiple phases over the next four years. The company is planning to develop this as its second child-centric project given the response to its first such project in Pune’s Kharadi and has already started the process to secure approvals and forming alliances.

The 22-acre land parcel has total development potential of 1.5 million sq ft and with the ongoing property rates of around Rs 6,000-Rs 6,500 per sq ft, the project is estimated to generate revenue of around Rs 1,000 crore.

The land parcel is situated close to Gera Developments’ Information Technology Special Economic Zone in Kharadi. This IT SEZ is being developed in alliance with Mumbai-based realty developer K Raheja Corp.

ET’s separate email queries to Gera Developments, HDFC Capital and promoter of Goel Ganga Group remained unanswered until the time of going to press. Transaction advisor CBRE India declined to comment for the story.

Wagholi is located on the Pune-Ahmednagar highway and has been going through a transformation since 2007 owing to the saturation of core areas in Pune. The advent of the IT-ITeS industry on the eastern parts of Pune has also contributed to the rise in real estate activity here. The major growth drivers have been the presence of affordable projects, proximity to the IT hub of Kharadi and connectivity to Pune Airport and other parts of the city.