Elphinstone, Kohinoor mills' land auctions set to rock too

The expectations on the price for NTC's Kohinoor Mill no (3) and Elphinstone Mills have soared after the high-value deals for Bombay Textile Mills and the Galxo property at Mulund.

Market analysts expect that the two mills will fetch prices hitherto unseen for land of that size. This is because big national players are getting seduced by the promise of rich pickings in Mumbai's exploding retail market. The two mills have been valued at around Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) each.

NTC's Bombay Textile Mills was sold for Rs 702 crore (Rs 7.02 billion) on Monday and the next day, 20 acres of Glaxo land at Vikhroli was sold for Rs 230 crore (Rs 2.3 billion) to the Nirmal group.

While Delhi realty major, DLF has acquired its first property in the city, with the Bombay Mills buy, another Delhi major Parsvanath Builders is reported to be looking for a good buy in the city.

Parsavanath was the second highest bidder for Bombay Mills at Rs 621 crore (Rs 6.21 billion). According to industry sources, the group is keen on acquiring one of the mill lands that are coming up next and is expected to bid heavily for the smaller NTC mills that have just been put on the block.

DLF Universal, which bought the Bombay Mills property through its subsidiary Jwala Realties, is planning to build a "futuristic mall" on the newly acquired property.

The DLF spokesperson Vijay Vancheswar said: "The Bombay Mills will be regenerated as a futuristic retail-cum-entertainment centre and will be a trend-setter."

One look at the number of big retail developments in the city makes it clear that retail is the name of the game in Mumbai currently. With around 13 new malls with a combined area of 5,335,000 square feet coming up by the end of 2006 or mid 2007, retail in the city is obviously set to explode.

Kohinoor Constructions which is putting up a 18 tower township in Vidya Vihar near Ghatkopar is also planning to put up a 500,000 sq ft mall in the township and plans to attract niche international players to the mall.

The key brands looking to expand in the city include Levi's Lee, Mango, Marks & Spencer's L'Oreal, Maybelline, Gabanna, Swarovski, Cartier, Gautier, Swatch and Mont Blanc. The hottest emerging high street retail locations include Vashi in Navi Mumbai, Lower Parel and Worli in Central Mumbai, Powai, Malad, Kandivili and Borivali in the western suburbs.

Among the existing high street retail locations, Linking Road commands the highest per square feet price at Rs 160 per sq ft, while Kemp's Corner and Lokhandwala come close at Rs 150 and 140/sq ft and Vashi clocks in at Rs 120/sq ft.