Sahara vacates BKC space 3 yrs after biggest lease deal :The Times of India

 Group Did Not Pay Annual Rent of `90Cr Last Yr
The beleaguered Sahara Group seems to be cutting its losses barely three years after it signed probably the biggest lease rental deal in India with a developer in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC).

Over the past few months, the Lucknow-headquartered conglomerate has begun vacating the almost four lakhsquare-foot space in Parinee Crescenzo, a 20-storeyed commercial tower in BKC. It had signed a nine-year lease agreement with the builder Parinee Developers in 2012, but has now opted out because of the plethora of problems it has been facing since some time.

Property sources said this could be part of the group's cost-cutting programme with its chairman Subrata Roy in jail for over a year now. A Sahara spokesperson did not respond to a query from this newspaper.

Three years ago, Sahara concluded the lease deal with Parinee Developers for the office space at a jaw-dropping rent of around Rs 90 crore a year for occupying almost one-third of the building. It worked out to about Rs 220 a sq ft a month. “Sahara failed to pay the rent for the past one year and is now voluntarily surrendering the premises,“ said market sources. The builder Parinee forfeited the deposit Sahara had paid when the deal was signed. The group occupied the 14th to the 18 floors in Crescenzo.

The building stands on a 2.2 acre plot which Parinee acquired from MMRDA on an 80-year leasehold basis in July 2006 for Rs 536 crore. In 2008, the builder sold seven floors to Standard Chartered Bank for Rs 750 crore. The Sahara chief has been in jail since early last year, and the SC has set stringent bail conditions--Rs 5,000 crore in cash and an equal amount in bank guarantees. The court said after his release, the group will have to pay back another Rs 26,000 crore to its depositers over 18 months. In Mumbai, Sahara has been trying to monetize its land back to raise funds for Roy's release.Last November, it sold its 265acre sprawl in Vasai for Rs 1,111 crore to Sai Rydan Realtors, a Nalla Sopara-based de veloper, who bought the land in partnership with diamond merchant Bharat Shah's Prime Downtown Estates.

In Goregaon (West), the Sahara group controls 106 acres of a no-development zone, which touches the Malad creek and falls under the coastal regulation zone.Mumbai's new development plan (now being reviewed) marked this land for residential and commercial purposes, evoking opposition from local residents and environmentalists.

Firm puts 32-acre plot in Kalwa on the block

TIMES NEWS NETWORK Mumbai: As many as 17 developers have evinced interest in a 32-acre plot owned by Hindalco Industries in Kalwa. The company , part of the Aditya Birla Group, put this land on the block a month ago.

Property market sources estimate the plot's value to be close to Rs 1,000 crore.

Among the 17 are developers like Oberoi Realty , Kalpataru, Tata Housing, Tata Realty, K Raheja Corp, Kanakia, Ahuja, Seth Developers, Delhi-based Exprion and Purvankara.

The plot can be used for residential purposes and has a development potential of 40 lakh sq ft. Property prices in the area are around Rs 8,000 to Rs 9,000 a sq ft. The site is located in Kalwa off the ThaneBelapur Road and about 1.5 km from Kalwa railway station.

Kalwa falls under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and comes under the purview of the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA).

The Thane­Belapur Road is a major connectivity node between Thane, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.

The Trans Thane Creek (TTC) industrial estate has been developed by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) along this road. Major residential, commercial and ITITeS nodes in the vicinity include Thane, Airoli, Vashi, Ghansoli, Koparkhairne and Mahape.