Google has picked up nearly 1 lakh sq ft office space in managed and flexible office space provider Smartworks’ coworking center in Pune’s Mundhwa locality for a total tenure of over 36 months, said persons with direct knowledge of the development.
The new office at tower Amar Pristine 81 (AP81) near Koregaon Park Annex will be utilised by Google to operate its cloud computing business and is expected to house more than 1,300 employees.
“The deal has been signed and Google will start operating from this new office anytime soon. As part of the lease agreement, the company has also received signage rights,” said one of the persons mentioned above.
Currently, Google has four offices in India, including its country headquarters in Hyderabad.
Last year, the company extended its 3-year lease on office space spread over around 6 lakh sq ft in Hyderabad following an agreement to lease 1.3-million-sq-ft in Bangalore.
The demand for flexible workspace among large enterprise clients as well as start-ups is expected to rise substantially in the coming year.
According to estimates, flexible office spaces are expected to grow by an average of around 15-20% per annum over the next three to four years. With the rise of options such as the work-near-home and hybrid model is expected to push the demand and penetration of coworking office spaces across key cities and even tier II locations.
The share of segment in total office transactions in the second half of 2022 across key property markets of India witnessed a considerable growth to 21% from 18% a year ago, showed a recent Knight Frank India report.