Lumina CloudInfra, the data center arm of global asset manager Blackstone Group, has reportedly acquired two adjacent land parcels in Mumbai’s Chandivali area to build two data centers. According to media reports, both facilities will be of 30 MW each.
According to LiveMint, the two land parcels measure 2.04 acres and 1.75 acres, and were purchased from Prasoon Spaces LLC, and Chawla Brothers LLP, respectively. Economic Times further reported that the first plot was acquired for Rs 294 crores, while the second one was acquired for Rs. 181 crores, bringing the total value of the transaction to Rs 475 crores (~ US$ 53.5 million). Citing registration documents accessed by real estate data analytics firm CRE Matrix, MoneyControl reports that the deals were registered on September 19.
Readers would recall that Blackstone had signed two separate agreements with authorities in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The first was a US$ 3 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), and the second is also a MoU worth US$ 3 billion with the City & Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) to develop data centers in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Blackstone is already developing two data centers in Navi Mumbai, the projects reportedly worth US$ 300 million. Blackstone is also developing a 150 MW data center facility in Telangana.
Blackstone has been present in India since 2005, and has been making huge investments in real estate, dabbling in office spaces and logistics. Apart from the latest investment announcement pertaining to data center development, Blackstone also plans to invest US$ 5 billion into Mumbai 3.0. This is a sister city project that the Maharashtra government has planned to decongest Mumbai, much like what it had done when it developed Navi Mumbai in the 1980s. Mumbai 3.0 will span Karnala-Sai-Chirner New Town (KSC New Town) and will see development of new infrastructure, residential, and commercial spaces.
