Lodha ropes in UK-based Yoo to design Mumbai luxury tower

Real estate developer Lodha group has roped in UK-based Yoo Ltd to design, brand and market one of its two luxury towers coming up in Mumbai.

Yoo, a leading residential design and branding firm, said in a statement that it has been appointed for branding, design and marketing of a 63-storey tower.

Lodha had purchased the 23-acre site in the upmarket Wadala area of Mumbai in 2010 for $850 million and is investing $2 billion over the next 5-7 years to develop the project.

Lodha Group managing director Abhisheck Lodha said that Yoo has been chosen for the landmark project as "today's discerning buyer is mindful of cutting-edge global trends, is widely travelled, exposed to the latest style vignettes and truly wants a superlative experience".

Yoo Chairman John Hitchcox said that demand for branded housing would continue to rise in India and the company expected to take the Yoo brand to even more projects in the country.

Recently, Lodha group said that Italian couturier Giorgio Armani's interior design studio Armani/Casa, which also designed residences in Burj Khalifa in Dubai, will design the residences and common spaces of its Rs 2,000-crore World Towers project coming up in Upper Worli, Mumbai.

This would the world's tallest residential tower and will have apartments and villas designed by the Italian luxe designer, with a price range of Rs 7.5 crore to Rs 50 crore.

The World One Towers are coming up on the 17-acre plot of the defunct Shrinivas Mills at Lower Parel, which the Lodhas bought nearly five-years ago.