Viacom 18 finalises city’s largest front office deal, move to a new HQ

While a formal agreement is yet to be inked, a source familiar with the deal said Viacom 18 will soon move its base from Zion Bizworld in Vile Parle East close to the Mumbai airport to Tower 4 of One International Centre

Mumbai: The Mukesh Ambani-owned media conglomerate Viacom 18 has entered into the city’s largest front-office leasing deal with Blackstone. The company that is also in talks to acquire Disney’s business in India, has leased 9 floors in

The entertainment conglomerate, which has 38 televisions channels across general entertainment, movies, sports, youth, music and kids and OTT platform Jio Cinema, will fork out an estimated monthly rent of ₹170 per sq. ft which will work out to ₹6.9 crore, industry sources said. (HR PHOTO)

One International Centre in central Mumbai, confirmed industry sources.

While a formal agreement is yet to be inked, a source familiar with the deal said Viacom 18 will soon move its base from Zion Bizworld in Vile Parle East close to the Mumbai airport to Tower 4 of One International Centre.

“The deal has been finalised. They will take up 4,10,000 sq. ft of office space across nine floors. All Viacom 18 channels be integrated in one location,” he said.

The entertainment conglomerate, which has 38 televisions channels across general entertainment, movies, sports, youth, music and kids and OTT platform Jio Cinema, will fork out an estimated monthly rent of ₹170 per sq. ft which will work out to ₹6.9 crore, industry sources said.

“The sheer size of the leasable area makes it a marquee deal. This is the largest front office leasing deal. Viacom 18 needed large floor plates of 45,000 sq. ft, and One International Centre Tower has that kind of space at a reasonable rent. Even Network 18 will move here in addition to the other channels,” said the source.

Among the recent large leasing deals are Morgan Stanley leasing 86,200 sq. ft in K Raheja Corp’s Altimus commercial tower in Worli, and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) stitching up a leasing deal for 1,10,000 sq. ft at Maker Maxity in BKC.

Comparatively, however, the Viacom 18 gross leasable area is much larger.

Blackstone-owned Nuclear Office Parks office portfolio has over 13 grade A properties across Mumbai, Gurugram, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, including One BKC, four towers in One International Centre, One World Centre, and Prima Bay. The Green Building Certification Inc had last year announced that Nucleus Office Parks had become the largest office portfolio with LEED certification.

Nucleus Office Parks and Viacom 18 did not offer any comment on the deal.