Ireo, Ascott in serviced apartment deal

Ireo, a private equity fund focused on real estate, has tied up with Singapore-based The Ascott Ltd to manage its upcoming Rs 400 crore serviced apartment project in Gurgaon.

The Ascott, the world’s largest serviced apartment operator, manages about
70,000 units across 70 cities in about 22 countries.

Ireo said the serviced apartment is a growing segment and has a lot of potential in the markets such as Gurgaon, which sees a large-scale incoming and exit of business executives.

Pankaj Dugar, hospitality head at Ireo, said, “This is our foray into the services apartment segment. We feel the segment is ignored. The Ascott Ireo city, Gurgaon, will have 220 units of serviced apartments. It is a part of an 800 acre township. Out of these, we have earmarked 160 for the rental pool, while the balance will be private residential apartments.”

On the offer are studio apartments with a price tag of around Rs 1.8 crore and one bedroom and two bedroom flats priced up to Rs 3.5 crore.

The project is likely to be completed by 2017.

Going forward, Ireo is looking at opportunities in the serviced apartment segment in the other parts of the country as well.

Pankaj said the company has a land bank of 4,500 acre and from a macro-level perspective it would be committed to the serviced apartment portfolio.