No takers for Hyderabad's most expensive homes?

HYDERABAD: Is the Jubilee Hills Landmark Project Pvt Ltd, touted as Hyderabad's most expensive residential venture (only a stone's throw away from KBR Park), struggling to find buyers? Sources in the know of things revealed that the project is in doldrums and Bangalore-based Mantri Developers Pvt Ltd, who replaced Maytas to enter the project (as developer) in December 2011, is running from pillar to post to sell the 126 apartments likely to come up on this sprawling 5.85 acres of prime land in the heart of the city.

Reason? The prices of these flats that have been pegged at anywhere between Rs 5 crore and Rs 20 crore (approx). "It is close to impossible to sell at this rate, especially given the current situation of Hyderabad's realty market," said a city-based developer, closely following the project. He added: "At this price or even less, customers can buy luxurious villas here. Then why would they want to invest so much in an apartment?"

While Mantri, in an attempt to increase the saleability of the venture, has now decided to also come up with some smaller units measuring not more than 3,000 to 3,200 square feet (with a starting price of Rs 4.5 crore). Even these have failed to attract customers, say sources. That the bigger homes then, spread over a massive area of anywhere between 5,700 sft and 7,500 sft, are being completely ignored by buyers, comes as no surprise.

"But the pricing apart, the project has a host of other disadvantages too. That it has been a non-starter for eight years and is still at least two and half years away from being even partially complete, are just two of them. Also, who would want to buy such an expensive home that looks right onto a busy commercial street?" elaborated a prominent real estate consultant, terming the project as both "jinxed and doomed".

That buyers are unlikely to get possession before mid-2016, is something that even a Mantri official confirmed, when this correspondent called posing as a prospective buyer.

The Landmark project first grabbed public attention in 2006. This was when an ICICI Ventures-led consortium, comprising Maytas and Nagarajuna Constructions, bought this land for an astounding Rs 335 crore from the state government. It hit the first stumbling block soon after in 2009 when Mayats' founder Ramalinga Raju was caught in a multi-crore accounting fraud.While Mantri stepped in, in 2011, to rescue the venture and even deposited a whopping sum of Rs 160 crore with ICICI, it failed to make any headway. This, despite the developer converting the mixed-use project (it was originally expected to house a star hotel, multiplex and international retail outlets, along with some apartments) into an out-and-out multi-storied residential venture, which, it thought would be more profitable.

Incidentally, while the developers are still marketing the project as a ground+7 housing scheme, it has procured permission only for ground+2 from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). "There are some clearance issues which are yet to be sorted out," is all that Devender Reddy, chief city planner, GHMC, said when contacted by TOI. Despite repeated attempts, Sushil Mantri, founder of the real estate firm, could not be reached for a comment.

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