Sheltrex moves housing project to Oragadam

Sheltrex Developers Pvt Ltd, a housing venture promoted by real estate investment company Brick Eagle Capital, has shifted its affordable housing project to a new location near Oragadam, following a dispute among the land owners at the previous site.

"The Brick Eagle incubated Sheltrex had a plan for developing an affordable homes project in Maraimalai Nagar. There were some dispute among the land owners and when the issue was about to affect around 300 customers, we stepped in and bought the entire stake in Sheltrex, and we were able to tie-up with Jarvinia for this site," said Rajesh Krishnan, managing director of Sheltrex and MD and CEO of Brick Eagle.
 

The company had signed an agreement with Cyprus-based investment firm Jarvinia to develop a township, in around 170 acre land in Oragadam, where the customers booked for the affordable project will get their housing units.

According to the new plan, customers who had booked units in the earlier project will be given units in the new facility for the agreed price, while the rest of the houses will be sold to new customers at a different price.

It is planning to develop around 2,500 units in 25 acres in Phase-I and would look for partners to develop the rest of the land into a township.

"The total portfolio size of the land which Brick Eagle will handle in Oragadam is worth Rs 2,000 crore. Phase-I across 24 acres will be launched under the brand of Sheltrex. The existing customers of Sheltrex will get to shift to the new site with 20 per cent discount than the market price," he said. The project will be delivered by 2015, he added.

"Jarvinia controls over 170 acres of development rights of land at Oragadam and has appointed Brick Eagle to manage the promotion of integrated affordable housing township portfolio," said CA Rashmi Parekh, director, Jarvinia Project Management Pvt Ltd.

Last year, Brick Eagle Capital announced it made a commitment for $20 million into Sheltrex, of which it would be initially investing $5 million into the company, Sheltrex plans to develop projects in eight metros for smart houses starting from Rs 15 lakh. The first 400 units under Phase-I would be fasttracked to cater to the requirements of customers who had booked for the earlier project, said Krishnan.

---

Brick Eagle Capital, a real estate investment firm with focus on affordable housing, is planning to raise around $100 million during the current fiscal. The company is looking at acquiring around 1,000 acres and plans to hand over around 1,000 keys during the year, said Rajesh Krishnan, MD and CEO of Brick Eagle.

"We have so far invested around Rs 150 crore (around $30 million) in India and plan to raise around $100 million during the year," he said.

It has a land bank of 900 acres. At present, it is handling around 11 projects, with major focus on affordable housing. It is also incubating some of the real estate firms, including a company working on interior housing works.

The company aims to deliver one million affordable homes by 2030.