2021: Where We Were and Where We're Headed

It’s been over two years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, disrupting our lives and business as we know it. While 2021 didn’t go as any of us had planned, companies adapted to the unprecedented challenges to reimagine how we conduct business. Even amid the pandemic, India’s real estate market experienced robust office leasing and renewals. As we step into 2022, Taurus India looks back on what we’ve achieved in 2021 and looks forward to the year ahead.

Looking Back: 2021 Highlights

Globally, Taurus has purchased and developed over 65 million square feet of residential, industrial, retail, and other commercial real estate assets with a total valuation of over $9.28 billion. Within India, Taurus continues its massive 5.5 million square foot mixed-use development, termed Taurus Downtown Trivandrum, featuring a mix of residential, professional, and retail space. In 2021, these are the major milestones that the Downtown Trivandrum project has achieved.

Embassy Taurus TechZone

Embassy Taurus TechZone (ETTZ) is a 3 million leasable square foot office space development in Downtown Trivandrum. ETTZ is being developed by a joint venture of Embassy Group and Taurus India.

Niagara

Niagara is a 1.5 million square foot office building at ETTZ. Construction is in full swing with handover expected to be in Q4 of 2022. With 11 floors of leasable space, 50% of Niagara has already been leased out. We were able to restart construction in June 2021 and pick up pace thereafter.

Keystone

Keystone is a 62,500 square foot prefabricated office incubation facility in ETTZ - the first of its kind in Kerala. Inaugurated on February 17th, 2021, it features 800 seats spread across 2 floors, 350 of which are already occupied and in use.

Taurus Yosemite

Taurus Yosemite is a 660,000 leasable square foot Class A, 13-floor, non-SEZ office building in Downtown Trivandrum. It features a high standard of sustainability, having been Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold and WELL Gold pre-certified. As of the start of 2022, Yosemite has been pre-leased for over 50% to an NYSE-listed anchor tenant.

Working with the Community

Among the turbulence of 2021, we felt it was more important than ever to uphold our commitment to supporting our community. From June 2021 we held a COVID-19 vaccination drive, in collaboration with KIMS Hospital, at the ETTZ Niagara project site. The participants included Taurus India contractors, consultants, clients, construction workers, employees, and their dependents.

This year we’ve also partnered with Embassy Group to carry out the Health Kit Distribution program. Through this initiative, students from 1st to 10th standard at government schools in Trivandrum are given health kits and health training to empower them to maintain healthy living. We distributed 640 health kits to government school students across the city, increasing the community’s awareness of preventative health and hygiene.

Looking Forward: 2022 and Beyond

“Despite the economic headwinds, Taurus had its best performance year ever in 2020 and continued to improve on that in 2021. We are excited for what 2022 has in store for Taurus and look forward to the continued growth of our firm.” said Peter A. Merrigan, the CEO of Taurus Investment Holdings.

As for what can be expected from Taurus India in specific, Ajay Prasad, Managing Director of Taurus India, said

“In 2022, we will continue to focus on the development of our flagship investment in India, the Taurus Downtown Trivandrum project, by delivering the 1.5 million square foot Niagara office building to its tenants and making progress on the various components of the 2.5 million square foot Non-SEZ portion of the project. We are also launching a domestic and regional fundraiser that will help us expand our Indian investment program to other markets in South India in the second half of 2022.”

None of this substantial progress would have been possible without the support of our team, investors, tenants, partners, and family who rode this rollercoaster of a year with us. Therefore, thank you for being a part of our journey and we wish you all a Happy New Year!