Construction on at land Tatas bought from Unitech

Tata Housing developing residential & serviced apartments, Tata Realty a mall

The Tatas are building a residential project, serviced apartments, offices and a mall on the two Gurgaon land parcels bought from realty major Unitech. In 2008, Tata Sons-owned Tata Realty and Infrastructure had bought about 44 acres from Unitech for about Rs 602 crore. Though the deal between the Tatas and Unitech turned controversial and was investigated as part of the probe into the 2G telecom spectrum scam, both the sides maintained this was just a real estate transaction.

While the residential project is underway, the Tata group is yet to start the construction of commercial properties. Both residential and commercial projects could be developed on an overall 3.5 million sq ft, said an executive in the know.

Tata Housing, the housing arm of Tata Sons, is developing residential project Primanti on 36 acres, while its sister company Tata Realty is working on commercial properties on the remaining land. The details of revenue-sharing between the two companies couldn’t be ascertained.

Tata Housing has already sold 700 of the 1,800 apartments in Primanti, located in sector-72, Gurgaon. The project is expected to be completed in the next three years. It would have 7,000-8,500 sq ft villas, 3,250-4,500 sq ft duplexes and 2,185-3,300 sq ft three- and four bed-room apartments. Possession for the first phase will be given in mid-2014.

Sources said Tata Realty was building serviced apartments and offices and a mall on the other land parcel it bought. They added Tata Realty had secured clearances for the commercial project and had already floated tenders for excavation of land. The process is expected to take three months. The company planned to start construction after that, sources said.

The commercial project would have a developed space of 700,000 sq ft, while the mall would be built on 250,000 sq ft, sources said. Tata Realty executives could not be reached for comment.

The construction cost of the commercial component would be Rs 600 crore. Tata Realty planned to bring in investors for the commercial properties in the project, once the project was developed, sources said.

Tata Realty is also believed to have bought two plots in Gurgaon.

“The Tatas did due diligence for around 515 acres in Gurgaon, which was initially valued at Rs 2,500 crore. Ultimately, they settled for 44 acres, which had clear title and was contiguous,” said an executive. “Though Tata Realty paid an advance of Rs 1,700 crore, Unitech returned Rs 1,098 crore with interest as the latter settled for 44 acres. There is no amount outstanding,” he added.

In October 2011, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had told a joint parliamentary committee there was no evidence of any irregularity in the Tata-Unitech deal and that this matter couldn’t be linked to the spectrum scam. Earlier, CBI had asked senior Tata Group officials to examine whether Tata Realty’s Rs 1,700-crore advance to Unitech was for real estate projects or linked to the 2G licence payments through front companies.

According to CBI investigations, Tata Realty made an advance payment to Unitech in October 2007, following a memorandum of understanding to buy 527 acres in Gurgaon. Subsequently, however, about Rs 1,000 crore was returned to Tata Realty, as it wasn’t utilised.