Google has leased 4,30,000 sq ft of office space from real estate 
developer Unitech in the second phase of its Signature Towers II project in Gurgaon. The tech giant already has 160,000 sq ft of space spread over eight floors in the same complex.
Google will use the new office space to expand its business in India, two people with knowledge of the development said. This is one of the largest lease transactions in the city this year.
The new space, said the first person, would be split between two new towers, one of which is ready and is being fitted out according to Google’s specifications by corporate interior design firm Cherry Hill Interiors.
“The company will move one of its existing offices in Udyog Vihar area of Gurgaon to this new facility,” said the person, asking not to be named.
Google is known to be a global trendsetter in workplace design, building stunning employee-friendly offices with the logic that happier people are more productive. Its new Gurgaon office completed last year has a railway coach that doubles up as an informal meeting space, a mini golf course, a small cricket pitch, swings, napping pods, massage and sauna rooms, a gym and lots of food at micro kitchens. Its Hyderabad office has a Google Slide that employees can use to travel from the higher floors to the ground level.
A spokesman for Google said as a policy, the company does not comment on rumours or speculation. A spokesman for Unitech said, “We do not comment on individual transactions of sale or leasing, as it is part of our regular ongoing business”. Property advisory firm CBRE, the transaction advisers for the leasing deal, declined comment.
One of the people quoted above said Google has leased this space from Unitech at a rental of around Rs 130 per sq ft per month for nine years.
Of the two buildings that are part of this lease, the first, which is being fitted out, has about 200,000 sq ft of space and is connected internally to the existing Google office next door.
Office space leasing has seen a spurt over the last few quarters, as companies consolidate their existing offices and also take up space for impending future expansion. According to property advisory firm Cushman & Wakefield, leasing in the top eight cities rose 32% to 17.9 million square feet in the first six months of 2015 and is expected to see a total of 36.4 million sq ft of office leasing in the current year.
The Unitech spokesman said demand for leasing commercial space remains robust for good quality office space.
Tech startups and e-commerce companies have taken the largest amount of space—about 6 million sq ft—in the last six months, according to property consultancy Knight Frank India.
Flipkart, for instance, leased 3 million sq ft in Bengaluru, Amazon took 1.3 million sq ft in Bengaluru, Snapdeal took 5 lakh sq ft in Gurgaon and Zomato recently leased 1.2 lakh sq ft in Gurgaon.
