Emaar EBD 89

First things first: EBD 89 is a commercial plot project, not a housing society. Emaar India is developing SCO plots across about 6.7 acres in Sector 89, Gurgaon, and the project is under construction. It is registered under RERA in phases, with registration numbers GGM/507/239/2021/75 and GGM/508/240/2021/76, and you can check each one on the state RERA portal before booking.

If SCO is new to you, it stands for shop-cum-office. Instead of buying a single shop in a mall, you buy a plot in a planned commercial strip and build a small commercial building on it, within the approved plans. Typically the ground floor works as retail and the upper floors as offices or showrooms. You can use it yourself, lease the whole building to one brand, or rent the floors out separately.

Sector 89 is part of the newer residential belt of Gurgaon that has grown up on the Dwarka Expressway side of the city. As more societies around it fill up, demand for local shops, clinics, cafes and offices tends to follow, and that local catchment is the basic idea behind an SCO in a sector like this.

The project offers plot sizes from 100 to 200 sq.yd, with landscaped greens, a planned entrance lobby and Vaastu-compliant planning, which matters to a lot of business owners and tenants. The listed facilities are what you'd want in a commercial strip: 24x7 security with CCTV, car parking, lifts and service lifts, air conditioning, power backup, fire fighting and housekeeping, plus a cafeteria and ATM or banking facilities.

Plots come in five sizes, 100, 129, 141, 156 and 200 sq.yd. Indicative pricing starts around ₹5.1 Cr and goes up to around ₹6.14 Cr for the largest, 200 sq.yd plot. Prices in commercial projects shift with the plot's position, so check the current sheet.

Keep in mind that an SCO plot is a very different bet from a flat. You're buying land and the right to build, and your income later depends on finding the right tenant. That can suit NRIs who want a commercial asset in India with a single, larger lease rather than several small residential ones, and a known developer like Emaar takes away some of the worry about approvals and delivery.

It also asks more of you. You'll need to plan construction of the building once the plot is handed over, and you'll want someone local to manage leasing. Before you buy, remember that where the plot sits inside the project matters more than its size. Ask which plots face the main road or the busiest frontage, what you're allowed to build, and the timeline for handover and construction.

Behind the project is Emaar India, the Gurugram-based Indian arm of Emaar Properties, the Dubai developer behind the Burj Khalifa. It has been in the city long enough that many of its projects are lived in, among them Palm Hills, Palm Premier and Palm Heights in Sector 77, Gurgaon Greens and Imperial Gardens in Sector 102, and Palm Gardens in Sector 83. You can walk through them and see how the towers, greens and maintenance have held up, which tells you more than any brochure.