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.