Oberoi Realty will partner Marriott International to open Mumbai's first Ritz-Carlton hotel as part of a slum redevelopment that includes luxury homes.
"This will be India's One Hyde Park; they will be the most-expensive apartments in the country," Oberoi Realty's billionaire Chairman Vikas Oberoi said in an interview in Mumbai, referring to the UK's most-expensive housing complex in London. The penthouses in the condominium project will be the "most expensive in India," he said.
Oberoi Realty, India's second-biggest developer by market value, and Sahana Group, a Mumbai-based firm that specialises in redevelopment, is developing the site in South Mumbai's Worli area, Oberoi said. The 238-room Ritz-Carlton, the hotel brand owned by the Marriott, will operate in one of the two towers in the project.
Also Read
Constrained by a four-decade law limiting height in built areas of India's financial capital, developers are constructing luxury towers in shanty towns and re-housing the slum-dwellers in new flats. Home prices in Mumbai, India's most expensive real estate market, rose to a record last quarter, according to Liases Foras Real Estate Rating & Research.
First Ritz-Carlton
When the Ritz-Carlton opens in Mumbai in 2017, it will be the second in the country after the one that opened in Bangalore last year, according to the hotel's website.
Oberoi is trying to replicate similar projects in London where residential property prices are soaring. A penthouse in London's One Hyde Park luxury apartment complex valued at as much as £175 million ($298 million) was sold by Christian Candy's CPC Group, CPC said last month. A sale at that price would value the property at more than £10,000 a square foot, a UK record, Oliver Hooper, director of broker Huntly Hooper said.
Prices in Mumbai increased 6.6 per cent to Rs 12,747.83 ($212) a square foot in the three months to March 31, according to Liases Foras.
The second tower of 67-stories will have luxury apartments starting at 7,500 square feet (697 square metres), and will cost a minimum of Rs 38 crore, Oberoi said. Sales are expected to begin in September, he said.
Slum reality
Demand for such homes may be slow in Mumbai, Pankaj Kapoor, founder of Liases Foras, said in an interview on Thursday. More than half of Mumbai's 18 million live in slums, according to Sahana Group Chairman Sudhakar Shetty. That's higher than the population of Switzerland, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Demand for high-end housing priced above Rs 5 crore remains low and inventory of unsold luxury housing is 100 months, Kapoor said, adding that a "healthy market" normally maintains about eight months of inventory.
Under the partnership, Ritz-Carlton will also manage the apartments for homebuyers and offer them services including in-residence spa treatments, in-house dining and catering and concierge facilities, according to Oberoi Realty.
Newly elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has renewed optimism that he will help revive Asia's third-largest economy and its real estate industry after his landslide victory in May, Oberoi said.
"We are lucky to have a prime minister like Mr. Modi, who has clarity on how he wants to take the country forward," Oberoi said. "All we need in real estate is for him to simplify rules and allow us to work." Vikas Oberoi's 75 percent stake in Oberoi Realty is worth more than $1 billion as of June 19, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
