Bengaluru Airport City: The Rs 1,800 Crore Bet Reshaping North Bengaluru

Bengaluru's airport corridor just got its biggest single real estate announcement in years. Prestige Group and Bengaluru Airport City Limited (BACL) unveiled plans for a 1.5 million sqft mixed use development within the Bengaluru Airport City precincts, on a 14.2-acre parcel near Kempegowda International Airport, entailing an investment of around Rs 1,800 crore. Construction is set to commence by early 2027, with the project expected to become operational by 2031.

At the heart of the development is a convention and exhibition centre built for scale. The project will span 6.2 lakh square feet and include a convention centre with capacity to host up to 8,000 people. Anchored by this convention and exhibition centre, the mixed use development will include luxury hotels, office space, retail and food outlets, as well as a performing arts space, with a proposed seating capacity of 2,500. The development brings together an iconic convention and exhibition centre, luxury hotels under the globally renowned St. Regis brand and Marriott Marquis brand, premium office space, and curated food and beverage experiences within a seamlessly connected urban environment. Designed by global architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), the development is set to draw inspiration from Bengaluru's dual identity as a garden city and a centre for technology and innovation.

Importantly for homebuyers, this is not a residential launch. "It would have been wonderful to do even residential as a mixed-use. But the concession agreement of the airport authority doesn't allow it and also because it's on leased land. So, any residential development that is happening should be outside this," a Prestige executive clarified. Prestige has done a lot of residential work in the northern part of the city, and it's a continuous process, he added — a signal that new housing launches around Devanahalli will keep coming even as this commercial anchor rises inside the airport campus.

The convention hub is only one piece of a much larger canvas. The project forms part of the larger Airport City initiative being developed by BACL on land adjoining the airport, and about 110 acres out of the 450-acre Airport City have already been developed or are under development, according to Hari Marar, managing director and CEO of Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL). Marar noted that the airport ecosystem has the potential to accommodate 15-18 million square feet of office space and between 4,500 and 5,200 hotel rooms over the long term. "We have nearly 4,000 acre of land as part of the concession agreement. Out of this, 400 acre have been allotted for Airport City. We aim to develop a hub for business, hospitality, and broader economic growth in north Bengaluru," Marar said.

Prestige Group's chairman framed the project as a legacy statement for the city. "Bengaluru has been integral to Prestige Group's journey for over three decades. With this landmark development—featuring the iconic St. Regis Hotel, a world-class Marriott marquee, a state-of-the-art Convention and Exhibition Centre, and a dedicated Performing Arts theatre, we reaffirm our long-standing commitment to the city's growth story," said Irfan Razack, Chairman and Managing Director, Prestige Group. BACL's leadership echoed the ambition on the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions) front: Rao Munukutla, Executive Director & CEO, Bengaluru Airport City Limited, remarked that "this partnership with Prestige Group underscores our commitment to creating world-class social infrastructure that not only supports the region's economic agenda but also elevates India's stature in the global MICE landscape."

Connectivity is the other half of this story, and it is arriving on a similar timeline. The precinct offers unmatched multimodal connectivity via NH-44, SH-104, the upcoming Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (KIAB) West Metro Station, Suburban Rail, and seamless airport access. The Blue Line metro from Hebbal to KIA is racing toward completion in parallel with the convention hub's construction start, meaning both open in roughly the same window later this decade. This dual push — a Rs 1,800 crore commercial anchor plus rail connectivity — is exactly the kind of employment-and-infrastructure combination that has historically driven the sharpest home price appreciation in Bengaluru's growth corridors.

For homebuyers watching Devanahalli, Bagalur, Yelahanka and the wider airport belt, the takeaway is straightforward: this convention centre will not put a roof over anyone's head, but it will put thousands of business travellers, event delegates, hotel staff and office workers into North Bengaluru on a near-permanent basis by 2031. That kind of daytime and overnight population is a proven driver of rental demand and retail footfall in the residential micro-markets ringing the airport, from Devanahalli town to IVC Road and Thanisandra. Buyers evaluating Prestige's residential launches in this corridor — separate from the airport-campus commercial project — are effectively betting on the same underlying growth story: an airport that is scaling from a transit point into a genuine economic district.