Realty Rocks: Mumbai penthouse sells for INR 202 cr, BKC office for INR 950 cr

In the biggest ever deal for a residential apartment in the country, a sea-facing triple penthouse in south Mumbai's plush Napeansea road locality has sold for a jaw-dropping INR 202 crore.

The approx 17, 000 sq.ft  carpet area luxury apartment that occupies the 20th, 21th and 22nd floors of  The Residence, a project being developed by the city-based Runwal group, has been bought by a noted industrialist who is said to have forked out a cool INR 1.20 lakh psf to clinch the deal.

The triplex sea-facing penthouse apartment comes with a scenic view of the adjacent Arabian Sea and Marine Line's famous Queens Necklace and includes 21 car-parking slots as part of the deal.

One of the most sought-after and expensive suburbs of south Mumbai, the Napeansea road area features some of the city's most expensive real estate and is witnessing a lot of vertical developments in recent years due to an acute land shortage.
 
According to informed sources, the industrialist whose identity is not yet known is said to have already made a down payment for the property recently and the deal is expected to be concluded over the next one month.

The project is scheduled for completion sometime in March 2018 and comes with an array of exclusive facilities and lifestyle amenities that include a luxury club house and swimming pool. The project will boast of an international concierge for the 30 apartments being constructed in its two wings, with each floor hosting a single, super-spacious apartment.

The half-acre plot which earlier hosted a bungalow, was purchased by the Runwal group from its erstwhile owners the Kapadia family in 2011 for a whopping INR 350-crore. The bungalow was earlier known as Bansda Residence, built and used by the family of Maharaja of Bansda, a princely state in southern Gujarat.

This is the second big-ticket realty transaction in Mumbai in recent months. In April this year, renowned banker and Mumbai-based billionaire Uday Kotak had purchased an 11,000-sq.ft home in Signature Island, an exclusive luxury complex project by Sunteck Realty in the central business district of BKC for close to INR 55 crore. The deal works out to about INR 55,000 psf.

Abbott buys BKC office for INR 950 cr
And in a similar record-breaking deal this time in the city's commercial space, pharma major Abbott India is said to be paying approx INR 950 crore for office space in Godrej BKC, a 19-storeyed, under-construction project located at BKC.

The deal works out to a rate of approx INR 37,000 psf for the property which is said to be about 2.5 lakh sq.ft (carpet area). As per informed sources, the US-based pharma giant whose present corporate office is located in Business Park at Goregaon east was on the lookout for a much larger space since the last couple of years.

Godrej BKC is a commercial project which is being jointly-developed by the city-based Godrej Properties and Jet Airways. Jet had earlier bought the 2.5 acre plot from the MMRDA in 2006 at a public auction for a consideration of about INR 399 crore. The airline later inked a JV with Godrej to develop the plot but retained approx 2.5 lakh sq.ft that houses its headquarters.

The Abbott deal is being hailed by property experts has the biggest in the last three years and the silver lining in what has been a largely turbulent and lacklustre year for the realty industry.

Earlier in 2012, banking major Citibank had signed what was then considered to be the biggest commercial office space deal in the country, shelling out INR 950 crore for about 3 lakh sq ft of prime office space spread over six floors of FIFC Tower, a 12-storey building in BKC.