mumbaiin the largest commercial space transaction in navi mumbai sbi life insurance company has bought 1 lakh sq ft office space from lt realty at its mixeduse project lt seawoods grand central for rs 140 crore said three persons familiar with the matter the insurance arm of state bank of india is expected to use the space for setting up its it centre and back office lt seawoods grand central is indias first and largest transitorienteddevelopment tods the deal has been finalized with the occupier sbi life insurance which has already paid token for the same the space will be ready for fitouts in january said one of the persons mentioned above seawoods commercial has three wings and sbi life will occupy an entire floor across these wings and an additional half floor sbi life insurances transaction is the largest office deal in navi mumbai as the company is buying the space on an outright basis in 2013 american multinational information technology services major cognizant technology solutions had picked up 230000 sq ft of office space at k raheja corps it sez in navi mumbais airoli this was one of the largest occupier transactions in the leasing segment then sbi life insurance company confirmed the transaction without elaborating on size of the deal the company will be relocating its central processing centre cpc to the new office from its existing leased office in navi mumbai said aj bose ed operations it in an email response the company expects this office housing around 700 employees including outsourced staff to be operational by april next the companys total current employee strength stands at around 11000 across india lt realty and transaction advisor property consultant cbre declined to comment on the story the office complex which is part of the nearly 4millon sq ft transit oriented development is ready and undergoing finishing touches the entire project is spread across 40 acres with the first phase entailing development of 26 million sq ft including 16 million sq ft of commercial space the deal reinforces a revival of interest in the commercial realty market across the country with several large transactions taking place over the past few months in september tata consultancy services entered into an agreement to lease over 2 million sq ft of builttosuit space at hiranandani estate in thane for 15 years in whats been billed as the largest single office space transaction in india in terms of area tcs will also hold a soft option to extend the lease by 2 million sq ft in may flipkart leased a 2 million sq ft custombuilt office campus in bengaluru for the quarter ended september indias top seven property markets saw a 20 yearonyear jump in commercial office absorption with over 9 million sq ft being taken up by demand for corporate office space according to a recent cbre report for some time big institutional investors such as blackstone and gic have been investing in commercial property and now big companies are