Calcutta, May 6 :    Calcutta, May 6:  Shopping mall on Camac Street, deluxe hotel on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, hi-tech housing on VIP Road, ultra-modern office space on S.P. Mukherjee Road... it's the beginning of a real-estate boom in town. For multinational realtor Cushman & Wakefield, Calcutta today is the 'gateway to the East'. Says deputy managing director Aashish Velkar: 'Calcutta never saw commercial activity like other metros witnessed in the past. Consequently, real-estate development was slower. However, in recent years, several companies have rediscovered the potential of Calcutta as the hub of the East, and are in the process of setting up facilities in the city.' Demand for space has been rising even outside the central business district (CBD), in areas like Camac Street, Russell Street, Rawdon Street and Rashbehari Avenue. The EM Bypass too, is in demand for expansion and relocation. 'Activity has picked up of late, but we can't really call it a boom yet. At best, the city is being used as a regional hub by IT and advertisement firms and a few service-oriented companies,' observes Sumit Dabriwala, managing director of Calcutta Metropolitan Group, creators of Hiland Park, billed to be the tallest building in town. 'A lot will depend on the level of economic activity, at the macro level, which alone can drive real estate in the coming months.' Studies by Cushman & Wakefield have found rentals slipping 5 to 7 per cent, from Rs 30-35 per square feet to Rs 20-25 per square feet, thus 'attracting big software businesses who are planning to relocate to the eastern metropolis. Due to infrastructure drawbacks and parking problems in the CBD, the EM Bypass will attract more business', the study says. Sushil Mohta, managing director of Merlin Projects Limited, feels the 'expansion and relocation' have mainly been in retail and the software and service sectors. 'Retail has surely hit a high here. Earlier, a big retail chain would look at Calcutta as perhaps the seventh or the eighth stop. But that perception is changing and big names are ready to come in.' Mohta, who has already sold more than 75 per cent floor space in Merlin Links ('the first full-fledged office complex beyond Rashbehari Avenue'), feels most of the new brick-and-mortar offices are housing marketing outlets or insurance and consultancy firms. 'Outside these areas, the focus is on click companies.' All this has fuelled a growing demand in the office-accommodation segment. 'The only business in Calcutta real estate for the last few years has been in the residential segment... Labour trouble and perceptional problems had seen business exiting the state. Even with 25 to 30 per cent higher occupancy cost, Delhi and Mumbai had attracted most corporates. But now, all that's started to change,' observes Anurag Munshi of Jones Lang LaSalle. Real-estate hyper-activity in the residential sector is concentrated in pockets of development like the EM Bypass, VIP Road, parts of south and greater Calcutta with Udayan, The Condoville Phase-III & IV, Hiland Park, Merlin Residency and Space Town topping the mega-projects list. But the projected boom could go bust, warns Munshi, if 'roadblocks to faster growth in the city's real-estate sector, like multiple-ownership structure, poor maintenance, old by-laws and tenancy laws aren't removed in a hurry'. 'The high rate of municipal tax in Calcutta is another deterrent,' adds Mohta.