Hindustan Unilever has decided to sell/lease ‘HUL House,' its erstwhile headquarters at Churchgate in South Mumbai.
The building, which has a carpet area of about 1.66 lakh sq.ft and could fetch upwards of Rs 500 crore, has undergone a complete makeover.
HUL said offices from 4,400 sq.ft to 26,000 and above can be located in the ground-plus-seven-floor superstructure.
Lease rentals in South Mumbai hover around Rs 275-300 per sq.ft, said a real-estate consultancy company. Being a prime property in Backbay Reclamation area, the building could fetch over Rs 30,000, per sq.ft. With real-estate sales sluggish, it remains to be seen whether HUL will get a buyer interested in purchasing the whole premises.
During the slowdown, many corporates in South Mumbai preferred to shift their offices to suburbs such as Andheri, Lower Parel, Bandra Kurla Complex and also to Navi Mumbai to reduce cost. The move benefited their employees living in the suburbs, who had to commute to South Mumbai.