Track2Realty Exclusive: Any commercial property with a rental value of Rs. 70-80 per square feet may be an ideal place to do business with. That, however, is not a reality in Gandhipuram of Coimbatore. Reason: the destination known as the commercial belly of Coimbatore was till recently offering the rental yields in the range of Rs. 30-40 per square feet. Critics even term the recent appreciation as not sustainable in commercial property rally in this micro market.
Obviously much of the criticism is coming from those businesses who till only recently were operating from here at a modest rent. Take for instance, the grouse of V Sreedhar, who was on a lease of Rs. 30 per square feet till last year. Now he finds it pinching to pay Rs. 80 per square feet for the same property in the market. Wondering whether to continue with his graphics agency from the same locality or move to any other reasonable location, he is consulting the property brokers in the market.
Market analysts advise this owner of creative agency to continue his operations from Gandhipuram only. Their reasons of being bullish on this micro market has less to do with the Return on Investments (ROI) per square feet, but more to do with the fact that it is a well connected marketplace with ideal eco system to carry on the business with easy accessibility to the client.
Gandhipuram is located about 14 km from the Coimbatore Airport and about 5 km from city Railway Station, 3 km from Coimbatore North Junction and 15 km from Podanur Railway Station. It is also very well connected to local bus services to various parts of the city. The nerve centre of Gandhipuram is Dr. Nanjappa Road which passes through the centre point of Gandhipuram.
Gandhipuram shares a border with Ram Nagar, Tatabad, Sivananda Colony, Rathinapuri, Sidhapudur and PN Palayam. Gandhipuram has over a period of time emerged as one of the major commercial centers in Coimbatore. Many industries in and around Coimbatore operate their corporate offices from Gandhipuram.
Cross Cut Road in Gandhipuram is one of the major shopping areas of Coimbatore city. Coimbatore District Central Jail is in located in Gandhipuram. On the negative side, traffic congestion has been an issue in this location, of late. This has been proving to be the biggest dampener for the businesses operating from here. Now to ease the traffic congestion, a flyover has been announced at the cost of INR 148 crores.
The largest stadium of the city, Nehru Stadium, is about 3 km from Gandhipuram. While there are several gardens and park in Coimbatore City, the largest garden and play area is VOC Park and zoo.
Many believe in the wake of the slowdown while many of the commercial properties across the business locations of the city had lost sheen, Gandhipuram had maintained its reputation of being resilient. There was no sign of softening of prices in commercial segment here even during 2008-10 and post 2011 the prices have slowly but steadily picked up.
It is therefore advised by many analysts tracking the property movement in this market that it is better to continue the business from this location. They rather advise to buy out the commercial spaces or the a few available plots since the location is poised to grow as one of the prime business centres of Coimbatore.
