Cognizant puts HQ in Chennai up for sale

Chennai: Tech major Cognizant Technology Solutions has put up its prime property, serving as its India headquarters for more than two decades, in Chennai for sale. The eventual sale of the property, comprising a 15-acre land parcel and four lakh sq ft office space on Chennai’s IT Corridor, could fetch the company at least Rs 750 crore – to Rs 800 crore, as per real estate industry estimates.The company has mandated international property advisory JLL to sell the prime property located at Okkiyam Thoraipakkam on OMR. The advisory firm has been talking to several prospective buyers including local developers - Baashyaam Group and Casagrand, the two names doing the rounds, but nothing has been finalized yet, sources said.Cognizant Technology Solutions could not be reached for its comments. JLL declined to comment, saying the process is at a very premature stage. But market sources indicate that Cognizant would like to wind up the process and vacate the campus by December, 2024, post-which its new India headquarters may function from the MEPZ campus near Tambaram on GST Road.The move to sell this property is part of the company’s ongoing process to consolidate its operations in three of its own buildings at MEPZ, Sholinganallur and Siruseri. It has been giving up leased spaces across Chennai including prominent addresses at Ramanujan IT Park, DLF as well as St Mary’s Road offices in R A Puram.The Thoraipakkam office has been Cognizant’s India headquarters for over 20 years and from where Lakshmi Narayanan and Chandrasekaran, the two professional co-founders of Cognizant operated from. It was from this campus, the landmark event - of Cognizant remotely ringing the Nasdaq opening bell – was held.This was also the first fully owned campus for Cognizant in Chennai. Prior to that, Cognizant operated on a rental basis from the CSI building near the US Consulate, Elnet and Tidel Park.Having been built over two decades ago, the Thoraipakkam campus had enough green space, since just four lakh sq ft was built in 15 acres. But since the campus was located close to a water body, it faced flooding issues during monsoon and associates had to wade through knee deep water to work. Water often entered the ground floor almost every other year, thereby damaging systems and office properties. The company was forced to spend several lakhs of rupees for refurbishment and repairs as well as a fresh approval from its global clients to restart work, industry sources said.