At 171 metres,51-storey OMR skyscraper to be Tamil Nadus tallest
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai: The Old Mahabalipuram Road,Chennais IT corridor,is also emerging as a hub of skyscrapers in the city.The area already houses the two tallest buildings in the state both residential projects,each with a height of 105 metres (32 floors ).Now,a city-based builder has launched a still taller residential apartment project with a height of 171 metres near Siruseri IT Park.Moreover,a 132-metre-high building with 38 floors is also coming up near Siruseri. Once completed,Archean Groups Albatross willbethestatestallestbuilding.It is the first real estate venture of the group,which is into diversified business interests like granites,industrial chemicals,minerals andshipping. Nakshatra Roy,MD of the real estate division of the group,said the project had already obtained mandatory clearances from the Directorate of Town and Country Planning and Mamallapuram Local Planning Authority.The 51-storey building (ground +50floors ) alsohastwo basement floors.The main tower would havetwoclubhouses,oneon the ground floor and another on the 29 th floor.The builder has ropedin international architects andconsultantsfrom Singapore,Israel and Australia for structural design,landscaping and analysing wind effects on thebuilding.Itwouldtakethree years tocomplete. Once the two ongoing projects are complete,Chennai can boast of having two of the top 100 skyscrapers in the country. The state government was reluctant to give clearances for skyscrapers in the city till the second master plan of the ChennaiMetropolitan Development Authority was rolled out in 2008.Till then,60 metres was the maximum height permitted in the city.After the plan document lifted height restrictions,many high-rise buildings have come up,especially in theoutlying areasof thecity. Skyscrapers have advantages as well as disadvantages, noted an international realty consultant.In a city like Chennai,where uninterrupted power supply is a luxury,skyscraperswillleave a gaping hole in the owners pockets month after month,he said.Operation of lifts andother amenitieson diesel generatorsis a costly proposition, he noted,adding that maintenance cost for apartmentswould rangefrom 3to 4 per sq ft. About the clientele,he said most of the high-end apartments in the city are affordableonly for thebusinessclass.
STANDING TALL: An artists impression of the upcoming building on OMR
Realty rates hit 9cr/ground as builders eye prime plots
Jayaraj Sivan TNN
Chennai: The realty sector in the city is set to witness land transactions worth an estimated 1,200 crore in the near future.Five prime properties in Nungambakkam,Egmore,Nandanam and Guindy have been put on the block and indications are that negotiations are at an advanced stage in all cases. A 26-ground (a ground is 2,400 sq ft) piece of land on Nungambakkam High Road,near Hotel Taj Coromandel,isthe pickof thelot.Owned by the Tatas,this property is expected to be finalised for around 225 crore,or 8.65 crore per ground,sources said.The price,industry sourcessaid,is the highest being paid for a property outside Boat Club and T Nagar.Developers from Chennai and Mumbai were in the race,but as the price soared,many local players pulled out. An 18-ground property,adjacent to Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission office on Sterling Road,too is expected to fetch 100 crore.A deal for 56-ground property owned by NRI businessman C Sivasankaran off Cenotaph Road is being finalised for close to 330 crore.A Chennai-based builder is learned to be the frontrunner in the negotiations. Hotel Atlantic on Montieth Road is also coming up for sale.A Chennai-based developer is learned to be negotiating for the 30-ground property to convert it into a residential complex and the plot is expected to cost more than 150 crore.With many leading builders in the city and elsewhere vying for these plots to develop apartment projects,apartment prices may go up.Since high-end apartments are likely to come up in these places,people from other cities too will show interest in them, said Jayant Hemdev,business director of Hemdevs,a city-based realty consultant. The biggest plot on the block,however,is the 10-acre Hindustan Teleprinters property,located on Anna Salai.Though the reserve price fixed for the property is only 250 crore,it is likely to fetch more than 400 crore,said industry sources.This land was auctioned by HTL to Bangalorebased RMZ Corporation for 297 crore in 2007.The deal,however,got stuck as the state government opposed it.Various courts,including the SupremeCourt,later upheld the companys right to sell the property.State Bank of India took possession of the property in 2009 and the bank has now initiated the auction processto realiseits exposure to the company. Big budget land deals are taking place in the central businessdistrict after a long period.The last major land deal was in 2006 when Bangalore-based Ozone group bought a 42-acre plot at Thirumangalam for more than 300 crore. The deal made headlines as the Ambani brothers invested in the property.Major developers have been concentrating on outlying regions of the city in recent years because no large parcel of land were available within the city,said Hemdev.
ON THE BLOCK
Five prime properties worth 1,200cr in the city are up for sale
26 grounds on Nungambakkam High Rd 18 grounds on Sterling Rd 56 grounds off Cenotaph Rd Hotel Atlantic (30 grounds) on Montieth Rd 10 acres of HTL property in Guindy
Chennai:The Madras high court has quashed the state governments show-cause notice to Cosmopolitan Club and Tamil Nadu Golf Federation at Nandanam,citing a legal glitch. Justice D Hariparanthaman,quashing the notice dated September 26,2012,said: The impugned letter makes it clear that it is not a proposal,but actually a decision to resume the lands before getting reply from the club.Hence,the show-cause notice is a mere idle formality and I have no hesitation to quash it. The premium green spread in the heart of the city has a chequered history.A total of about 80 acres was first licenced to the club in 1956,and it was converted into lease at an annual rent of 15 per acre till 1966.From July 1966 the lease was extended for a period of 30 years by increasing the lease amount to 5,800 per acre. In 1996,the government asked the club why the property should not be handed over to the Tamil Nadu Golf Federation,which too had made an application to it.After a couple of round of litigation over the issue,the club and the federation were granted a joint lease in 2001.When they did not follow certain conditions,the government cancelled the land allotment in March 2001 and wanted it to be vested with the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT).After another round of litigation,the government extended the lease up to June 2026 with special conditions. The present round of litigation was triggered by the September 26,2012 notice asking as to why the land should not be resumed and handed over to the SDAT.Assailing the notice,counsel for the club and the federation informed the court that the government had already predetermined the issue and thus the impugned letter was not merely a show-cause notice. Advocate-general A Navaneethakrishnan,however,said if the club and the federation had replied to the notice,the government could have considered it with open mind,and they need not apprehend that a decision had already been taken by the government.The decision to resume the land for giving it to the SDAT would be treated as proposal, he said.He also furnished a letter from the state revenue secretary,which stated that the word decision mentioned in the show-cause notice was actually the proposal of the government. The judge,however,granted liberty to the state government to issue fresh notice to the parties.
GREEN HEARING
The premium green spread in the heart of Chennai has a chequered history and has been at the centre of several legal battles over its possession
1956:
Cosmopolitan Club gets possession of the 80 acres of ground on lease and holds the right till 1966
1966:
The lease agreement extended for a period of 30 years and annual rent hiked to 5,800 per acre
2001:
The club and Tamil Nadu Golf Federation are granted a joint lease.But,the government cancels the lease within months
2001:
This leads to legal complications and,finally,the government agrees to extend the lease till 2026
2012:
The state government sends show-cause notice to the club and the federation to take back the land
-- Edited by Admin on Monday 25th of February 2013 11:38:19 AM
Chennai: In an attempt to bring in transparency in the building plan approval process,the Chennai Corporation is planning to send SMS alerts directly to applicants. The civic body has approached the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited to develop a system.The system is likely to be in place within a few months.Once the system is ready,the applicants will receive an SMS alert three times on the status of the application, said a civic official.The first alert will be sent when an application is submitted.The second alert will be sent when it reaches the concerned official and the third alert will state whether the application has been granted or rejected, he said.The Coimbatore Corporation recently introduced the SMS alert facility and received a good response. Civic officials said the corporation would also state the reason if an application is rejected through the system.It will help the applicant to track their application through online.The applicant is also required to provide their mobile number or e-mail id,without which the application will not be processed, the official said. While the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) approves plans for buildings with more than two floors and a large built-up area (above six dwelling units for residential buildings and above 300sqm for commercial buildings),the corporation approves plans for small buildings.The civic agency only issues building permits to both small and big buildings.The civic body receives about 15,000 applications for new building every year. A senior corporation official said: There were several complaints about delay in issuing building plan approval.We expect that the introduction of the SMS alert system will reduce the complaints. Many builders in the city have welcomed the corporations initiative.It will definitely bring some transparency and also help to speed up the long procedures, said T Chitty Babu of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India.