A six-acre government plot in Wadala fetched the highest
bid of Rs 4,053 crore from the Lodha Group on Tuesday, setting
not only an all-India record, but once again reaffirming
land-starved Mumbai's numero uno position in the property
market.
TOI had predicted that this tract of land was all set to
create a record after the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development
Authority (MMRDA), which controls the land, tweaked tender
conditions to allow multiple towers instead of a single
'iconic' tower. It also permitted 100% residential construction
instead of the earlier stipulation of just commercial. MMRDA
officials said this bounty would be redeployed for the city's
transport projects.
Till now, DLF's bid of Rs 1,750 crore for 350.7 acres in
Gurgaon last year was considered to be the highest in the
country. But on Tuesday afternoon, the Lodha Group beat
this record by several times after it outbid three other
developers for the Wadala plot by quoting double the reserve
price. The MMRDA had set a minimum rate of Rs 40,000 per
sq m (Rs 1,980 crore) and Lodha put in its bid for a hefty
Rs 81,818 per sqm.
The six-acre sprawl located in the Wadala Truck Terminal
will allow the developer for the first time ever to utilise
an unheard of floor space index (FSI) of 20. The average
FSI-the ratio of the permissible built-up area visa-vis
the plot size-in Mumbai is between 2 and 4.
"Clearly, the location is great with the upcoming
metro and monorail projects in close vicinity. With the
plot offering a saleable area of close to 80 lakh sq ft,
we plan to utilise about 70% of it for residential purposes,''
Lodha Group's managing director, Abhisheck Lodha, told TOI
minutes after he emerged from the bidding at the MMRDA headquarters
in the Bandra-Kurla Complex. Lodha Group is mainly into
constructing high-end apartment buildings in the city.
Some Big-ticket Deals
2006: Reliance Industries buys 18 acres in BKC for
Rs 1,104 crore 2007: Purnendu Chatterjee promoted-TCG Urban
Infrastructure and Hiranandani Group pay Rs 1,041 crore
for a two-acre BKC plot
2007: Reliance Industries shell out Rs 918 crore
for a 2.5 acre plot in BKC
2007: Wadhwa Group acquires under two acres in BKC
for Rs 831 crore
2007: Sajjan Jindal Group acquires 2.5 acres of Orbit
Corporation sresidential-cumcommercial property in Kalina
for Rs 807 crore
2005: NTCs 17-acre Mumbai Textiles mill is sold to
DLF for Rs 702 crore
Source: TNN
