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Business News/ Companies / Lodha to set up arm for super-luxury homes
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Lodha to set up arm for super-luxury homes

The first project that will be launched under the new brand is at Mumbai's Altamount Road, one of the most expensive locations in the country

Lodha Developers managing director Abhishek Lodha. Photo: MintPremium
Lodha Developers managing director Abhishek Lodha. Photo: Mint

Bengaluru: Lodha Developers Pvt. Ltd, the country’s largest developer in terms of sales, is setting up a separate business vertical to develop super-luxury projects, starting with Mumbai and London.

Headquartered in London, The Luxury Collection will have a portfolio of residential projects. An added plus: the projects will be serviced by St Amand Hospitality, a company that Lodha has set up to offer personalized services to residents.

“Luxury is not just about location. It is a mix of product and service experience, spectacular locations with personal attention to detail. There aren’t any luxury projects in the true sense that are completed and delivered, and we want to lead the way," said managing director Abhishek Lodha.

The first project that will be launched under the new brand is at Mumbai’s Altamount Road, one of the most expensive locations in the country. It’s a property called Washington House that Lodha bought three years ago from the US consulate for over 350 crore.

Next in line is a property at Grosvenor Square, in central London, that the developer bought from the Canadian government for over £300 million (around 3,050 crore) in 2013.

The Luxury Collection will also include the 75-storey Trump Tower and World Towers projects that Lodha is currently developing in central Mumbai.

Lodha said the company will do no more than one-two luxury developments a year.

Lodha has a large portfolio of mostly residential projects in Mumbai, across high-end and mid-segment price points, and clocked the highest residential sales in 2014-15 at 7,800 crore.

Its luxury plans may be seen as a bold move at a time when the real estate sector is battling a prolonged slowdown, forcing many realty firms to abandon plans to develop such projects and focus on what sells quickly—mid-market and affordable homes.

Luxury projects, which comprise only about 7% of projects in the top seven cities of the country, have seen an acute slowdown in sales in the last two years, with launches down to a trickle.

“The concept of luxury and branded residences, that typically cost upwards of 10 crore, is still evolving in India and is not price-sensitive. The client mainly looks at exclusivity, the neighbourhood and if it makes a statement. Lodha is trying to position itself differently with this brand, targeting high net worth households and NRIs (non-resident Indians) that desire this kind of luxury," said Ashwinder Raj Singh, chief executive officer (residential) at property advisory JLL India.

The Altamount Road project will have one residence per floor. Besides three- and four-bedroom homes, there will be four five-bedroom pool villas and a triplex penthouse, that will be sold by invitation.

While Lodha did not close prices, those of homes on resale on Altamount Road and adjoining Carmichael Road are in the region of 1.1-1.2 lakh per sq. ft, and according to estimates by property consultants, Lodha will sell at a premium, at about 1.5 lakh per sq. ft.

In fact, land-starved Mumbai, known for being the most expensive property market in the country, is seeing a handful of super-luxury projects coming up, whose prices are mostly dictated by location.

In the city’s Worli area, Oberoi Realty Ltd is building residences of 8,500-9,500 sq. ft that will cost upwards of 35 crore, with a Ritz Carlton hotel in the complex. Omkar Realtors and Developers Pvt. Ltd’s Omkar 1973, in the same neighbourhood, has apartments that cost between 15 crore and 100 crore. An ongoing project on Carmichael Road is being sold at 1.3 lakh per sq. ft.

“Luxury is determined not just by the product, but also the way the apartments are sold, the services offered and the entire living experience. Lodha wants to create that experience for its customers in a bunch of marquee projects," said Mudassir Zaidi, national director, residential, Knight Frank India, a property consultant.

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Published: 23 Sep 2015, 12:37 AM IST
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