Bombay Mills land gets Rs 720 cr

In the biggest real estate deal of all times in the country, the K P Singh-promoted DLF Group today snapped up the 19-acre Bombay Textile Mills property at Lower Parel for a whopping Rs 720 crore (Rs 7.2 billion). The mill is owned by the National Textile Corporation.

"The project will be the most promising and futuristic retail-cum-entertainment centre in Mumbai catering to the needs of the metropolis in a trend-setting manner," a statement issued by DLF said.

The property will be developed by Jwala Real Estate Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of DLF Retail Developers Ltd, the retail wing group flagship DLF Universal Ltd.

DLF outbid other developers like Delhi-based Parsvnath and the Hiranandanis in acquiring the property.

The Parsvanath group, which came second, had bid Rs 621 crore (Rs 6.21 billion) for the property. The Dosti Group came third. Leading builder Niranjan Hiranandani said he had bid Rs 550 crore (Rs 5.5 billion) for the property as he didn't think it was worth more.

DLF also indicated that it could acquire more properties in the city. "DLF Retail Developers will roll out major plans in Mumbai. DLF intends to capture close to 25 per cent of the high-end retail growth market of the 40 million sq ft expected to come up nationally over the next 2-3 years," the statement said.

NTC had sold its first property -- the eight acre Appollo Mills land -- to Mumbai-based developer and Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha's Lodha Group of Industries for Rs 180 crore (Rs 1.8 billion).

Bolstered by the record bid it received for the Bombay Textile Mill land, NTC has now decided to invite bids for two more mill land properties. These are the five-acre Kohinoor (3) Mill and the eight-acre Elphinstone Mill.

NTC (south region) managing director VK Tripathi said: "We are very pleased to see the buoyancy in the realty sector which is indicative of the confidence in the economy. Tomorrow we will be inviting bids for the Kohinoor (3) and Elphinstone properties. The bids will open on Tuesday and close in a month's time."

According to property consultants, the two NTC properties have been able to cash in on the huge increase in realty rates in Mumbai over the last one year. "Only two years back, the Bombay Textile Mills land was valued at around Rs 350 to Rs 400 crore (Rs 3.5-4 billion)," said a consultant.

The eight-acre Elphinstone Mill property has a sanctioned floor space index of 42, 951 square metre.

NTC will peg the earnest money for this property at Rs 13 crore (Rs 130 million). The five-acre Kohinoor (3) mill property has roughly 20,000 square metres of land that can be developed.