TARDEO | The Imperial Towers | 254 m | 61 fl x 2 | Completed

[Jai]

Xposting from the international forums for the new SSC India Mumbai section.

The Imperial Towers -- Tardeo, Mumbai

Mumbai's first major skyscraper project, and really, the project that can be heralded to have paved the way for the boom, Shapoorji Pallonji & Co Ltd./SD Corporation's twin Imperial Towers, designed by Mumbai architect Hafeez Contractor as his most recognizable project, was designed as Mumbai's tallest towers.

Then called "SD Towers" or "Tardeo Twin Towers", the years long litigation and hard-won battle for construction rights was the change that heralded the 'new India' economic boom model of urban redevelopment over the paralyzing nexus of 'old India' socialists and special-interest groups that for years had kept Mumbai underdeveloped.

The towers are built on former slum land where the current re-development model of builders providing free land and rehabilitation to slum dwellers in exchange for rights for property development, was first put into practice on a big scale. This model became the standard for slum redevelopment across the city, and across India as a whole.

The towers are ultra-high end residential towers that sold out even before the first brick was laid. The Imperial offers sea-views by virtue of its height, and a resort-like gardens and fountains on top of the parking-structure podium, with hanging gardens that mask the structure itself.



While shortly into its construction, it lost the "India's tallest" tag to Lodha Bellissimo (though only in the comparison of roof height vs. highest liveable floor, like Sears Towers did to Petronas), which in turn lost its claim several times over with announcements of new towers, the towers are the farthest along in construction of all of Mumbai's capital projects, and its unfinished frames dominate the Parel region.



While construction hasn't yet progressed so it is noticible, it is surrounded by several 45-55 storey residential towers, creating Mumbai's first skyscraper cluster. Though a temporary stay has been put on construction owing to some legal matters, it is expected to be finished by 2009.



Cheers,
Jai

[Jai]

Some updates from the international thread (beware: image-heavy!)

Originally Posted by Jai

Hi all

some construction updates on the towers...

First, this photo from Humayunn:


And some from BBC's program "India With Sanjeev Bhasker":

Originally Posted by Jai

Some more construction updates from Humayunn Peerzaada:

Originally Posted by Jai

A construction update, copyright mfitch

[Jai]

Some recent updates from the Mumbai Update thread

Originally Posted by Ubermensch

Dissapointing not to see these completed already, but looks like Tower 1 is topped out and Tower 2 will follow shortly. I beleive they ran into some legal hurdles so work was stopped for a while.

Tower 1 & 2


Tower 2

Originally Posted by IndiansUnite

Imperial Towers
UPDATE: Apr 8
Copyright Humayunn N A Peerzada

Originally Posted by Suncity

photos copyright Bishal

Imperial Towers

Originally Posted by IndiansUnite

I spoke with someone from Shapoorji Pallonji a couple of minutes ago. He said that the cladding as shown in the renderings of the Imperial towers will start in around 6-8 months.

[Cov Boy]

Fab!

[Hindustani]

Great to see tower 2 catching up to Tower 1. few months ago, looked like I'll take eternity for tower 2 to top off. Not anymore. we're almost there with both.

[Cov Boy]

I cant beleive that these towers are completely sold out!

Just wondering what that white building on the left is on the left hand corner form the above last pic. I know the Mahindra (Beige) Tower is in the foreground.

[indeglow1]

So,there will be aluminium cladding where there is painted concrete now? I still dont see it finishing up looking anything like the rendering.

[KB335ci]

Hey. The Imperial towers are located a good distance from Parel. They're in Tardeo. The title of this thread is wrong.

[Hindustani]

funny thing is I was about to comment on the location too. They was a good reason why they were called "Tardeo Twin Towers" originally.

Originally Posted by KB335ci

Hey. The Imperial towers are located a good distance from Parel. They're in Tardeo. The title of this thread is wrong.

[angelfire]

Whoops spoke to soon complaining that there was no seperate thread on this tower it is there, albeit it is not in parel but at Tardeo

[Jai]

Yeah, I have no idea why I wrote Parel. Brainfart

[IndiansUnite]

UPDATE: May 8
Copyright Anne Gaëlle Rico

[IndiansUnite]

Suncity, please replace Parel with Tardeo in the thread title

[KB335ci]

Yeah, please, 'coz this is beginning to get on my nerves. I fear a laptop bashing...

[Jai]

Originally Posted by KB335ci

Yeah, please, 'coz this is beginning to get on my nerves. I fear a laptop bashing...

You should try yoga.

[Cov Boy]

Great up-date!

Looking like the renders.

Tower Two nearly topped out as well.

[IndiansUnite]

a bit old but a cool B&W shot of the towers -

Copyright thomsoncole

[SarafIndian]

Ohhhhhh.... Mumbai Rocks

[Jai]

The Imperial symbolises the vertical lift in realty prices

GURBIR SINGH
07 March 2008


LEADING TOWERS: The Imperial is today benchmarking south Mumbai’s luxury
residential realty (Pic by Subhabrata Das)

The twin cylindrical towers below cumballa Hill in South Mumbai have become a landmark. Driving down the Worli sea face or looking north from Marine Drive, the 60 floors sprouting into the skyline cannot be missed. Two conical tops for the buildings are yet to come, which when in place will make them the tallest structures in the country. Dilip Thakker, one of the promoters of ‘The Imperial’, as the under-construction project is known, says with a wry smile, “We have to thank those who opposed the project. The delay has given us a windfall.” Thakker is referring to the NGO and ‘citizen’ protests that had delayed the project.

Amit Thakker, his son, who handles marketing for the Shapoorji Palonji-Thakker joint venture, says the current asking rate is Rs 34,000 a sq. ft. At lower levels, a recent sale was at Rs 27,000 a sq. ft. There are a couple of five-bedroom, 10,355-sq. ft flats on the 49th and 53rd floors. If Amit Thakker gets his asking rate, they will cost the buyer a little over Rs 35 crore each.

In many ways, The Imperial represents the surrealistic spectacle being played out in rich south Mumbai’s realty market, where prices are bucking the general downturn to touch new highs. Little supply of super-luxury flats and a lot of people with money to burn may not fully explain the prices here that are as sky-oriented as The Imperial.


Horizontal To Vertical

The Imperial itself has a chequered history. Interestingly, the project, started in 1997, is a slum rehabilitation scheme. The project promoters have housed around 2,500 slum families of M.P. Mill Compound, who were living on 13 acres of government land, into 15 rehab buildings. The quid pro quo is that the promoters have been permitted to carve out five acres for The Imperial, whose 228 super-luxury flats will give them back not only their investments, but also a handsome profit, they hope. Construction has been long and tiresome, as the project was stopped in December 2004 after it was seen as an environmental hazard. Those with flats atop the Cumballa Hill protested as the two monstrosities were blocking their panoramic view. Others said, the hill might collapse. After long court battles and a certificate from IIT Mumbai and L&T, the project trudged on.

Detractors of the project say that on the pretext of a slum rehab scheme, the promoters have got hold of government land for free. Amit Thakker says that the developers, S.D. Corporation has invested Rs 175 crore in rehabilitating the slums. Total project cost is over Rs 700 crore. A board in the site office says the interiors of The Imperial will cost Rs 104 crore.


New Property Price Points

Beyond the social disputes, The Imperial is today benchmarking south Mumbai’s luxury residential realty. “It is a new-generation building with aluminum cladding,” says project architect Hafeez Contractor. “The USP is we give apartment owners a breathtaking view in three directions.” From Level 12 to 39, the interiors are by Pinakin Patel. In the upper reaches — Level 49-54 — interiors are by New York-based architecture and interior design firm Craig Nealy Architects . Take your pick at Rs 34,000 a sq. ft!

Even as news flows in from centres such as Whitefield in Bangalore and Gurgaon in Haryana that real estate prices are dipping, Shapoorji and S.D. Corporation are pushing up their rates. Others in Mumbai’s luxury segment are not going slow either. DSK Corp, which has constructed a pencil-thin, 32-storey tower called ‘Durga Mata Towers’ near the Ambani family building ‘Sea Wind’ in Colaba, sold its last apartment — a duplex measuring 4,046 sq. ft at Rs 5,000 a sq. ft — for a cool Rs 20 crore! Sumit Arora, marketing chief of DSK, says the company was holding back on the last of its duplex flats on the 28-29 floors as it was hoping to get a price of Rs 60,000 a sq ft.

Unitech has tied up with Rohan Developers in south Mumbai for a few upscale sites, including one on Marine Drive’s Chowpatty and another on Altamount Road. “When these come into the market, bookings are expected to start at Rs 35,000 a sq. ft,” says Akshaya Kumar, head of broking firm Parklane Properties.

But there are bigger jaw-droppers coming. A super-luxury tower on Mumbai’s posh Pedder Road, a JV between Ispat Industries and builder Sameer Bhojwani, is ready; it starts at Rs 75,000 a sq ft. There are only 18 duplex flats of 6,000 sq. ft and more. Bhojwani has not sold anything yet, it is believed, but when he does, each scalp will be worth Rs 45 crore!

DSK’s Arora says that builders could afford to push up prices in markets such as south Mumbai as there is very little supply of super-luxury flats while there are many who have the money to pay for it. Yet, the stupendous rise in prices in south Mumbai in a correcting market has unnerved even the most cynical property pundits.

Speculation has it that builders are shoring up property values by calculated leaks of a few freak, big-ticket deals. Last November, Citibank sold a flat in NCPA Apartments on the Marine Drive waterfront for Rs 34 crore, that is at a rate of over Rs 97,000 a sq ft. The deal created a buzz in the property market and helped jack up prices further in south Mumbai. Many of these purchases involve those in the realty business themselves. Sameer Gehlaut, executive director of Indiabulls, is believed to have pulled off a purchase of an apartment in developer Suresh Raheja’s famed Chattan Bunglow project on Malabar Hill for a price close to Rs 1 lakh a sq. ft. Two years earlier, another Indiabulls director, Gagan Banga, bought a flat in Cuffe Parade’s Maker Towers B from Citibank for Rs 7.2 crore, a rate of Rs 37,500 a sq. ft. In January 2006, he created a new price point. Now, Gehlaut’s Chattan Bunglow purchase has pushed the price point further for 2008.

“Word about some of these very high-value buys is selectively spread by some developers to create new price points,” says Akil Hirani, managing partner of legal firm S.B. Majmudar & Co, which handles several real estate projects.

Like The Imperial’s imposing towers, realty in south Mumbai only seems to be moving skywards!

gurbir.singh@abp.in

(Businessworld issue 11-17 March 2008)

[IndiansUnite]

an old video that I believe Suncity had posted in the update thread -

view from the top of the towers -