REAL ESTATE - PUNE

In November 2007, the Government of Maharashtra gave the nod for 100-metre buildings in Pune. The official notification issued on November 15 of that year gave vertical growth a robust push. With the bar raised substantially from the prevailing height restriction of 36 m (12-floors) that had came into force a decade earlier, 30-floor buildings (above the ground) are poised to become a reality.

The move has set the ball rolling for a transformation of the Pune skyline, and the city is slowly, but surely, evolving from one dominated by low-rise residential and commercial structures to one where buildings, a dozen ones to begin with, will, literally speaking, soon tower above the landscape. Clearly, penthouses are set to get a new, more evocative meaning.

Flying off the shelves


Part of the evolution process is the gradual ebbing away of the claustrophobia associated with lifts and fear of dizzying heights amongst the buying clientele. Pune-based developer Kumar Builders was the first to announce the launch of its first 100 m high residential tower of 80 apartments about two weeks ago. Kruti Jain, Executive Director, said that houses located on floors 15-23 (currently permission up to 70 m height has been procured, and the rest is under process) are flying off the shelves. “In the first week, we received bookings for 50 per cent of the houses. In fact, there is a wait list for those who want a house on a particular floor,” she says, adding the second tower in the four-tower 45 Nirvana Hills project in Erandwane will open for bookings in a month’s time. The going rate for bare flats (minus fittings and paint) is Rs 4,500 per sq.ft, with Rs 25 per sq.ft for floor raise. One of the notable features in this scheme will be a one-acre garden on the 30th floor.

As of today, there are at least two other developers in the 100 m tall building space. Panchshil Realty’s first residential project in this dimension will be YOO Pune by Phillipe Starck at Hadapsar. It will offer some 240 apartments (5 BHK condominiums) spread in six towers (totalling 1.3 million sq. ft) situated within a landscaped parkland.

Bookings are expected to open a few months on. Panchshil Tech Park at Kalyani Nagar is a commercial project in the same space.

Evaluation committee


According to an official in the Pune Municipal Corporation, sanctions to build up to 70 m have been accorded to 14 independent projects, involving both residential and commercial spaces. Most of these will apply for sanctioning of the added 30 m.

“A four-member high-rise technical committee headed by the Divisional Commissioner has been formed to evaluate these (100 m) proposals. The committee held its previous meeting last month,” he says. Sanction for the city’s first 100 m high-rise may be just a few weeks away. Also on the cards is extension of the 100 m height rule, currently applicable in the old city limits, to 23 villages brought into the PMC area in 1997.