Mumbai-based real estate company The Phoenix Mills Ltd has emerged the highest bidder for a 5.6-acre plot in southwest Kolkata’s Alipore, offering to pay as much as Rs 400 crore for the land in the city’s most coveted neighborhood.
Phoenix’s offer of about Rs 71 crore an acre will count as one of the highest the city has ever seen for a land parcel, highlighting the undying allure of Alipore as Kolkata’s most upscale locality. If approved by the state government, the Mumbai realtor would get the land on Judges Court Road for a 99-year lease and it would be free to build residential or commercial complexes. The area, part of Alipore Green City Development Project, can have about a million square feet of built-up space.
If ratified by the state, this would be Phoenix’s second venture in Kolkata. Last year, it had picked up 7.48 acres for a mall at the Judges Court Road-Diamond Harbour Road crossing for Rs 300 crore in partnership with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP). There were four companies in the fray for the plot, two from Kolkata and two from Mumbai. “Companies like them want clean land from the government and they went aggressive with the bid,” said one of the participants in the bid.
All the land parcels in Alipore will be auctioned as leasehold land. In the Alipore land parcel that went for e-auction. The state government did not put any condition on the use of the land.
The bidder is free to use the land to build residential apartments or commercial complexes or a mix of both. Sen said a similar approach was most likely to be adopted when the other land parcels were put for e-auction. “We will go for the e-auctions only after making sure that we have done the mutation and all other necessary things that bidders check before bidding. Our objective is to monetise the land parcels and we want the best bidders to participate,” Sen said.
