Embassy Group, which is known for its real estate developments across commercial and residential segments, said it has forayed into co-living.
EPDPL Co-Living Pvt. Ltd will target students from colleges and professionals with multinationals in Grade A business parks across Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region), Mumbai, and Chennai, Embassy Group said in a statement. The brand launch is planned by the end of 2019 with a flagship project in Bengaluru, followed by a project in Pune.
Embassy Group will start the venture with 20,000 beds which will be built on its existing land portfolio. It will target to reach over 100,000 owned and operated beds in the next five years.
“There are over 35 million students in higher education and the migrant millennial workforce is growing at a rapid pace, thereby giving us an opportunity to cater to this increasing demand of co-living and create accommodation for them across the country,” said Aditya Virwani, chief operating officer, Embassy Group.
Kahraman Yigit, co-founder, Embassy Co-Living, said, “The globalised workforce and students today are constantly on the move and look for accommodation that is easy to access and hassle-free. We, at Embassy Co-Living, will bring in the best global co-living practices equipped with elegant design, sustainable green initiatives, high security and a remarkable experience for all our members.”
Co-living as an asset class has gained a lot of currency in India lately. A slew of startups have ventured into the segment, attracting capital from global and domestic investors. A bunch of real estate investors have also set up co-living and co-working firms or backed firms that are into shared living or co-working.
Recently, Bengaluru-based real estate developer Salarpuria Sattva Group backed CoLive focused on Bengaluru, with an investment of Rs 63 crore.
In April, co-living startup Housr Technologies Pvt. Ltd raised funding from Abhishek Lodha, managing director and chief executive of Lodha Group; Pirojsha Godrej, executive chairman of Godrej Group; and Harsh Patodia, president-elect of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India and chairman of Unimark Group.
In the biggest transaction in the co-living segment, private equity firm Warburg Pincus set up a joint venture with Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd last December to invest as much as Rs 3,000 crore ($426 million) to develop full-service accommodation for students and young working professionals.
