Tishman Speyer, one of the world's top realty developers, has opened its first property in Asia, commissioning the initial stage of the Waverock IT Park in Hyderabad.

The US-based property developer also launched the second stage of the project, which is a joint venture between Tishman and ICICI Ventures, which has come up at a SEZ at Nanakramguda, Gachibowli, an IT district on the city's outskirts.

Including two phases, Waverock will cover up 12 acres of land for providing 2.46 million square feet IT office space to offer up employment opportunity to 25,000 people.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah has given official approval to the first phase, which includes 700,000 square feet with 10 floors to seat 7,000 experts. The first phase, built at a cost of Rs 600 crore, commenced partial operations in February.

The second stage of Waverock IT park will cost around Rs 700 crore.

After completion, the IT park will provide 1.65 million square feet office space. It will be developed in three sub-phases and will be 15-19 storey-high with a total area of 650,000 square feet each.

TCS has started its operations in Waverock whereas Accenture and Invesco will start their offices soon.

Tishman had also inked a MoU with the Andhra Pradesh administration in the year 2006 to construct the facility. ICICI Ventures will hold 50% stake in the joint venture.

Company officials said that 80% of the phase I capacity at Waverock was committed.

India is the 11th country where Tishaman has launched operations.

At present, Tishman, which raises and manages private equity funds for real estate across the world, has $50 billion of assets under management.

The IT export turnover from the state during the last year stood at Rs 32,500 crore. There are more than 1,200 companies providing employment to 251,786 people. (With Inputs from Agencies)