Star India renews lease for 450,000 sq ft headquarter in Mumbai

Star India has renewed its lease for nearly 450,000 sq ft office space spread across 16 floors of the commercial tower Urmi Estate that houses its India headquarters in Mumbai’s Lower Parel business district for a long-term tenure of nine years.

In addition to the 16 floors in Urmi Estate, the company has also leased the ground floor lobby, meeting room and studio area on the ground floor, as well as the mail room and terrace on the 8th floor of the adjacent Urmi Iconic Building, which is part of the same complex.

The media company will be paying rentals worth Rs 768 crore over the total tenure of the lease, including rental escalations of 4.5% at the end of every 12 months.

The agreement includes a lock-in period of seven years, including a notice period of nine months for Star India. The licensor, Keshav & Company, will have to follow the entire lease tenure as its lock-in period.

The company will hold a right to terminate and surrender any two floors of the said premises at any time after December 31, 2026 by serving a notice of nine months, according to the documents accessed through CRE Matrix, a real estate data analytics firm.

The rental agreed upon is not inclusive of the cost of maintenance of common areas in the buildings and Star India is expected to pay common maintenance charges for a portion of the said premises measuring nearly 419,000 sq ft chargeable area as per the terms of a separate agreement with the service provider.

The company has already paid Rs 93.48 crore to the landlord towards security deposit. As part of the deal, Star India will get access to a total of 650 parking spaces, including 500 car parking slots.

ET’s email query to Star India remained unanswered until the time of going to press.

Effective March 2019, with the closing of the $71 billion deal with 21st Century Fox, The Walt Disney Company now owns Indian television major Star that has several sports and entertainment channels.

Demand for office spaces has made a strong comeback across the key property markets. The first nine months of 2022 have witnessed record net absorptions backed by strong supply completions and healthy pre-commitments.

According to a JLL India report, net office absorption has recorded a 107% year-on-year jump at 30.3 million sq ft across the top seven cities in the first nine months of 2022, backed by robust supply completions with healthy pre-commitments.