The Quintessential mansions in Mumbai

When you have money, invest it in property. What better examples than the business tycoons who have bought expensive mansions for amounts beyond imagination? Let us take a look at some of the most extravagant bungalows owned by these magnates.

Aashirwad:

Yesteryears’ superstar Rajesh Khanna’s home, Aashirwad was sold to a businessman for a mere Rs. 95 crore. Khanna had bought this 6500 sq ft property from Rajendra Jubilee Kumar. This sea facing bungalow on Carter Road was under controversy after Anita Advani had sent a legal notice to Khanna’s family claiming her right on the house. Apparently, according to sources, the house was also haunted.

Aashirwad – Rajesh Khanna’s home

Gulistan:

Gulistan, a 3-storey mansion situated on the Napean Sea Road was acquired by Mahindra’s real estate arm for Rs. 270 crore. The group’s MD & Vice Chairman Anand Mahindra was born and lived here as a tenant till the bungalow was officially purchased. The tenancy dates back to his grandfather, K.C. Mahindra’s times. The 13,000 sq ft property is located opposite Priyadarshini Park.

Gulistan : Anand Mahindra

Bishops Gate:

A 40,000 sq ft property, Bishops Gate, was sold to Peninsula Land, an Ashok Piramal Group company for Rs. 272 crore. The property, located in the upscale Breach Candy area was owned by Standard Chartered (75%) and HSBC (25%) and housed senior officials from both banks. The building which formerly had 12 apartments and 12 garages is now being redeveloped into a luxury tower by Peninsula Land Ltd.

Bishops Gate :

 Kapadia Bungalow:

Nepean Grange, the 2-storey mansion built by the Kapadia family in 1918 was bought by Runwal Builders for Rs. 270 crore. The property admeasures 2048 sq meters, has an outhouse, a servants’ quarter and a huge car park. Although the Runwals settled the deal for Rs. 270 crore with the Kapadias, they had to pay an additional Rs. 80 crore to the tenant, Lilani family to vacate the property taking the overall transaction to Rs. 350 crore.

The Runwals plan to demolish the bungalow and erect a high-end plush residential tower here.

Kapadia Bungalow:

Mehrangir Bungalow

The iconic bungalow, Mehrangir, home to the father of India’s atomic energy programme – Homi J Bhabha was sold to Smita Crishna-Godrej for Rs 372 crore. Many people in the city wanted to preserve this 15,000 sq ft property and turn it into a museum.

Smita has assured that the home where Homi Bhabha grew up will not be demolished. The 3-storey mansion spread over 1,593 sq m plot will be used as a residence for her family. Interestingly, the Godrej family paid Rs. 115 crore more than the reserve price of Rs. 257 crore for this historic property.

Mehrangir Bungalow

Jatia House:

This property in the posh Malabar Hill was on the blocks for sale for quite some time when last year it found its new owner in Kumar Mangalam Birla. Birla paid Rs. 425 crore for this sea facing bungalow built over a sprawling 30,000 sq ft. this transaction is one of the most expensive ones with regards to amount paid per square feet. While The Jatias were finding it difficult to maintain the house as it was too big, the Birlas who presently reside on Altamount Road plan to make this mansion their family house.

Jatia House

Lincoln House:

Cyrus Poonawala, the Chairperson of the Poonawala group purchased this heritage property last year for a monstrous amount of Rs. 750 crore. Lincoln House, which originally housed the US consulate, has a massive area of 50,000 sq ft. the Poonawalas will use this as their family residence.

While the per sq ft rate of this 2 acre property is a whopping Rs 86,088, the selling price of Rs. 750 crore is still 100 crore less than the reserve price due to the restrictions on its redevelopment.

Lincoln House

Cyrus Poonawala

In a mind-boggling weekend sale, the iconic Lincoln House was sold to Cyrus Poonawalla, billionaire-chairman of the Pune-based Serum Institute, for a whopping Rs 750 crore!

The sale of the Lincoln House, located in the Breach Candy area of south Mumbai, which housed the erstwhile office of the US Consulate, has been termed as the largest-ever property deal to have taiken place in the country’s financial capital.

The 2-acre grade-III property at Breach Candy has a built-up area of around 50,000 sq ft. although grade-III heritage properties are open for redevelopment, sources said that Poonawalla will join the league of Kumar Mangalam Birla & use the Lincoln House as a family residence. The property which has been on the block since 2011 was sold at a lower price than what was demanded by the Americans.

The Lincoln House, once known as the Wankaner House, was a palace belonging to Maharaja Pratapsinhji Jhala Wankaner. In 1957, it was leased to the US & sold to the Consulate by the Maharaja later on, to pay off his taxes. The US made it their consulate in the city, renaming the palace to Lincoln House. The consulate was shifted to a sprawling new building in the BKC area in 2011 and the property was up for grabs since then.

Cyrus Poonawala is the Chairman of Serum Institute of India,, the largest producer of drugs for snake-bites. This is the second big ticket deal within a week of the sale of Jatia House bought by industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla for a record Rs 425 crore.

US Consulate’s Lincoln House property

Two years back in March 2012, Mumbai’s realty circles were abuzz with news of Tata Housing, Tata Group’s realty company bagging the US Consulate’s Lincoln House property in South Mumbai for a cool Rs 850 crore. Almost three years on, a stroll past it reveals no sign of the Tata involvement, just a sole security guard, wearing a US Mission-logoed uniform manning the post.

Lincoln House, a heritage structure, underwent a grade change which worked as the spanner in the deal wheel. “Lincoln House hasn’t gone anywhere. We are not involved with the deal anymore,” says Brotin Banerjee, MD & CEO, Tata Housing said.

In July 2012, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, on basis of the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee’s recommendations, published a revised list of heritage structures. As per this list, the heritage status of Lincoln House was upped from grade III to II-B. While redevelopment of heritage structures with grade III is permissible, there are several restrictions in place for change especially external, to structures with grade II-B. “The development potential reduced. We are hoping for changes in the Coastal Regulation Zone rules,” says a source involved with the transaction.

Tata Housing had not signed any documents to close the deal or pay the US Consulate any sum. They were the highest bidders and had only paid the earnest money deposit, put down by every bidder. The amount has since been repaid, says the source.

Banerjee says there’s a possibility of a future involvement in the property. “Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Delhi NCR are our two biggest markets. If I can get better projects for Tata Housing in , I’d be keen to do it. I wouldn’t say I am not interested.”  Here is a catch. Banerjee feels that he must be capital ready and the project investment ready for a deal to come through. No point waiting for “500 years for it (investment) to show (results)”. He says, “No point investing Rs 700-800 crore and then the development potential, which you thought was a million square feet, comes down to X. It doesn’t make sense.” As for Lincoln House, it continues to be in limbo, he told a newspaper.