The company’s first project was Prestige Court on Kengal Hanumanthiah Road in the mid 80s. Since then it has completed more than 120 residential, commercial, retail and leisure projects, accounting for over 30 million sq ft. The company has rapidly scaled up in recent years, working on a number of high-value projects involving the creation of 15 million sq ft of built space in the city’s swish localities. Little wonder, Prestige Estates Projects is the only builder to get a reaffirmation of the Crisil DA1 rating and the only builder in Bangalore to have won the prestigious FIABCI Award for its software and residential facilities. Given by the multi-disciplinary International Real Estate Federation comprising architects, developers, contractors, investors, lawyers and financiers the world over, the FIABCI Award is an impressive addition to the company’s laurels.
The Prestige Group’s origins date to 1956 with the launch of Prestige Fashions in Commercial Street by Irfan’s father Razack Sattar. When Irfan Razack took charge of the business along with his brothers Rezwan and Noaman in the early 80s, the city had just begun its metamorphosis. “Destiny takes you to different places. We started out by trading in the real estate business and decided to plunge into construction ourselves when we discovered there was a dearth of quality constructions,” says Razack. It was Razack’s unerring ability to read the market correctly that resulted in the launch of Prestige Estates Projects in 1985. “One success led to the other and we got more offers from landlords to develop their properties. We grew organically. We constructed buildings and handed them over to professionals to manage, but later realised that the buildings were not properly cared for,” he recalls. Prestige Property Management & Services grew out of this need, as a service to customers. Prestige thus became the first builder to set up such a division for post-construction care.
With over 3000 employees on its rolls, it is now the largest employer in the Prestige Group. In the last few years, Prestige has vastly widened its portfolio to include malls, hotels, mixed-use condominiums and gated communities. It has also created subsidiary group companies that target niche real estate businesses. In the new millennium, Prestige gave a fillip to global retail that was slowly moving into India with The Forum, a benchmark in the mall space. Razack aptly calls it “a focal point of social gathering.”
Prestige Acropolis
Prestige’s residential properties draw on international influences and are remarkable contributions to the cityscape. Prestige Acropolis, Prestige Notting Hill, Prestige South Ridge, Prestige St. John’s Wood and Palms of Prestige Ozone are just a few examples of Prestige’s homes for Bangalore’s upwardly mobile, well-travelled and discerning buyers. T The company’s software campuses Prestige Blue Chip Software Park and Cessna Business Park headquarter Bangalore’s top IT companies. Its magnum opus is Prestige Technology Park, a 16 acre campus providing top-of-the-line facilities to software businesses. The company’s latest offering UB City is a thin slice of Manhattan overlooking verdant Cubbon Park. The spires signify everything that Bangalore can hope to be as its populace reach for the sky. Future projects include a residential development in a mall in Hyderabad, a technology park in Chennai, a residential complex in Mangalore and villas in Goa.
Clearly, the falcon is in a conquering mode