Pi Data Centers to launch Mumbai facility, partners JLL for India expansion. Pi Data Centers will launch its first Mumbai facility by August 2026 and partner with JLL to support a 23 MW expansion, amid rising demand for AI-ready infrastructure across India. Kalyan Muppaneni, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Pi Data Centers Pi Data Centers has announced the launch of the first phase of its 3 megawatt (MW) facility in central Mumbai and its partnership with JLL to support its planned 23 MW expansion of hyperscale, artificial intelligence (AI)-ready, colocation and cloud data centre capacity across India. The Mumbai facility is scheduled to go live in August 2026. JLL, a global commercial real estate services and investment management firm with $26.1 billion annual revenue, acted as the exclusive advisor on the lease transaction for Pi's first Mumbai facility. The new facility in Mumbai will complement Pi's existing 60 MW hyperscale capacity in Andhra Pradesh's Amaravati and another upcoming 3 MW facility in Telangana's Hyderabad, slated for October 2026. The Mumbai facility is purpose-built to meet next-generation digital demands, enhancing Pi's ability to serve enterprises, hyperscalers, and AI-driven businesses in key markets in India. With innovative infrastructure and future-ready design, the data centre is engineered to deliver high availability, scalability, and operational resilience, the company said. Kalyan Muppaneni, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Pi Data Centers, said, "This capacity addition, alongside our existing 60 MW infrastructure in Amaravati and another upcoming 3 MW data centre in Hyderabad in October 2026, enables us to deliver seamless, high-performance digital infrastructure across key regions." Muppaneni further added that the company's presence across Mumbai, Amaravati, and Hyderabad allows it to uniquely combine low-latency access with large-scale capacity. "This dual advantage positions Pi as the preferred partner for enterprises and hyperscalers building resilient, AI-ready digital infrastructure in India." Rachit Mohan, managing director, data centre leasing, APAC, JLL, said, "India is emerging as a global data centre hub, backed by cost competitiveness, adequate energy supply and stable governance. This transaction represents our deep understanding of what next-generation digital infrastructure demands: strategic location selection, future-ready scalability, and optimised efficiency designed specifically for the sophisticated needs of hyperscalers and enterprises." Mohan noted that India's data centre industry has expanded at a 24 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since 2020, with annual absorption nearly doubling over five years. Strong demand from hyperscalers, banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), e-commerce, media, and technology sectors has driven this growth. AI workloads, digitalisation and cloud services are expected to accelerate the momentum further. According to JLL, 100 GW of new data centres will be added between 2026 and 2030, doubling global capacity. The global data centre sector will expand at a 14 per cent CAGR through 2030, which will require energy innovations to alleviate grid constraints. Hyperscalers will remain a key driver of sector growth, executing a dual strategy of leasing and self-building. A recent report by Vestian, an occupier-focused workplace solutions firm, predicts that India's data centre market will more than double to $22 billion by 2030 from about $10 billion in 2025, driven by rising cloud adoption, AI workloads, and rapid growth in digital consumption. Investment momentum in the sector also remains strong. Between 2020 and 2024, India's data centre industry attracted about $13-15 billion in investments, with foreign institutional investors accounting for nearly 80 per cent of total inflows. Announced investments of $60-70 billion over the next five years underscore continued interest from hyperscale operators and joint-venture platforms.

AI elevates CRE valuation: Blackstone leverages tech for strategic acquisitions. April 9, 2026 Majid Radaei, RadCRE The ascendance of AI in commercial real estate valuation. The commercial real estate (CRE) industry is experiencing a profound transformation driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), particularly in the areas of property valuation and predictive analytics. Gone are the days when traditional discounted cash flow (DCF) models, while foundational, served as the sole bedrock for investment decisions. Today, sophisticated algorithms analyze vast datasets, including economic indicators, demographic shifts, transactional histories, social sentiment, and even satellite imagery, to generate highly accurate valuations and forecast market trends with unprecedented precision. This technological leap provides a significant competitive edge to firms that embrace it. Blackstone, JLL, and the data advantage. Leading institutional players are at the forefront of this adoption. Blackstone, known for its strategic and data-driven investment approach, has reportedly invested significantly in its proprietary data science capabilities to refine acquisition strategies across its multi-trillion-dollar portfolio. While specific details remain confidential, industry reports from sources like Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal have highlighted Blackstone's use of advanced analytics to identify undervalued assets and anticipate shifts in tenant demand across various regions, particularly within sectors like multifamily and hospitality where micro-market dynamics are critical. Similarly, major brokerage houses like JLL and CBRE have launched dedicated AI-powered platforms, offering clients enhanced market intelligence and predictive modeling. JLL Spark, their global venture fund, consistently invests in PropTech firms specializing in AI solutions, aiming to integrate these capabilities across their appraisal, brokerage, and advisory services. Predictive analytics shaping investment thesis. The capabilities extend beyond mere valuation. Predictive analytics, powered by AI, are now formulating investment theses by identifying emerging submarkets, foreseeing rental growth trajectories, and even anticipating potential distress in assets or portfolios. For instance, Green Street Advisors, a prominent independent research and advisory firm, utilizes proprietary algorithms to offer granular cap rate trend predictions and submarket performance forecasts that consider hundreds of variables often missed by manual analysis. This enables investors to proactively adjust strategies, mitigating risks and capitalizing on nascent opportunities. The ability to model various economic scenarios at speed, discerning optimal hold periods or disposition timing, is becoming an indispensable tool for maximizing returns. Challenges and the path forward. Despite the immense potential, challenges persist. Data quality and availability remain critical; 'garbage in, garbage out' holds true for AI models. Furthermore, the 'black box' nature of some advanced algorithms can sometimes make interpretability difficult for traditional CRE professionals. However, as AI tools become more transparent and explainable, and as industry-specific datasets grow richer and more standardized, their integration into daily CRE operations will only deepen. The evolution of computational power and specialized machine learning models specifically designed for geospatial and real estate data will continue to propel this revolution. RadCRE perspective. "The chatter around AI in CRE is finally translating into tangible results, and it's fundamentally reshaping how we approach due diligence and capital deployment," notes Majid Radaei, Founder of RAD Commercial Realty. "We're seeing institutional clients and savvy private investors move beyond basic analytics. For instance, when we underwrite a hotel acquisition, our RadCRE.ai platform isn't just crunching historical RevPAR; it's integrating real-time flight data, local event schedules, social media sentiment for specific brands, and even competitor pricing intelligence through AI. This allows us to predict demand fluctuations and potential ADR growth with a level of granularity that legacy methods simply couldn't touch. The true value of AI isn't just speed; it's the ability to uncover hidden correlations and risks in complex datasets that even the most experienced analysts might overlook. This is critical in today's environment, where a basis point shift in a SOFR-indexed loan (currently around 4.31%) can significantly impact a deal's viability, and precise asset valuation becomes paramount to secure competitive bridge financing at SOFR + 300-600 bps or higher leverage agency debt." Conclusion. The integration of AI into CRE valuation and predictive analytics is no longer a futuristic concept but a present-day reality driving efficiency, accuracy, and strategic advantage. As firms continue to invest in these capabilities, the commercial real estate landscape will become increasingly data-driven, rewarding those who harness the power of intelligent automation to navigate complex markets and unlock value. Sources: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, JLL Spark, Green Street Advisors, CoStar Group Evaluate your CRE deal with AI. 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JLL opens new office at O'Hare Plaza in Chicago. April 9, 2026 CHICAGO - JLL has opened its new office at O'Hare Plaza, a Class A office complex located at 8755 W. Higgins Road near the Chicago O'Hare International Airport. The brokerage giant says that the new office uses a more efficient footprint that emphasizes amenity-rich design, communal workspaces and flexibility. The 5,748-square-foot space features city views, breakout areas, upgraded conference facilities and access to shared building amenities, including a tenant lounge with a restaurant/bar and outdoor spaces. "This move is a tangible example of what we recommend to clients: create a workplace that earns the commute through experience, flexibility and thoughtful design," says Marcellus Parker, head of corporate real estate, Americas, at JLL. Sustainability and employee well-being were core considerations throughout the design and build-out. The office features LED lighting, occupancy sensors and daylight sensors in open office areas, indoor air quality sensors and biophilic elements such as planters. The layout prioritizes access to natural light, with shared spaces such as the open office, meeting rooms and collaboration areas located along the window line. Height-adjustable desks and a range of meeting and collaboration settings support different work styles, while high-performance acoustic glass and sound-mitigating phone booths provide privacy. Open office workstations were reused from JLL's previous O'Hare Plaza space, supporting material reuse and waste reduction. JLL Design developed the vision for its new office based on the Y-shaped terminals of the O'Hare airport, creating a concept called "Grounded Connection." The design concept reflects connectivity as both a physical and metaphorical framework. A central collaborative hub is surrounded by distinct "neighborhoods" that mirror the airport's circulation. The office houses JLL's suburban office and industrial brokerage teams, property management professionals and Project Development Services team members. The new office complements JLL's existing Chicago-area locations, including the firm's global headquarters in downtown Chicago at Aon Center and an additional office at 150 N. Riverside. LaSalle Investment Management, JLL's investment management arm, is located at 333 W. Wacker Drive. The firm maintains a suburban Westmont office at 700 Oakmont Lane.