Despite the market slump, Chennai has been witnessing some big-budget land transactions. The latest one is by Casa Grande, one of the major villa developers in the city. It purchased a 5.16-acre land from L&T at Manapakkam for `60 crore.Edelweiss funded the deal, said Casa Grande MD Arun Kumar.
A press release from the developer said a combination of apartments and villas, ranging from `31 lakh to `1.8 crore, would be promoted at the site.
It has been on a purchase spree in recent times. It bought about 5.5 acres on GST Road from Rane Group for `80 crore for promoting a residential-cum-commercial project and picked up about 30 acres at Nayapakkam off Bangalore Highway for `40 crore. A turnover of `650 crore was made by the company last year, primarily on account of competitive pricing and faster turnaround of projects, said Kumar.“About 45% of our sales were in the villa seg ment. People have an inherent urge to own land, and our endeavour is to satisfy that need,“ he said.
Looking at major land deals, only two months ago, industrial paints maker Kansai Nerolac had sold 15.86 acres at Perungudi on Old Mahabalipuram Road for `550 crore to Bangalore-based Brigade Properties. GIC Singapore funded the deal. Brigade is expected to promote a shopping mall at the site.Years 2013 and 2014 also saw many big-ticket deals. Xanders made an investment of `690 crore in Shriram IT SEZ, Landmark builders picked up 14.16 acre from erstwhile Binny Mills for `490 crore, Shriram Group bought 6.5 acres from AVM for `400 crore, Ceebros bought Atlantic Hotel in Egmore for Rs 165 crore and Viceroys Hotels in MRC Nagar for `480 crore and VGN purchased 1.43 acres in Nungambakkam from Tata Communications for `195 crore and 10 acres in Guindy from Hindustan Teleprinters for `272 crore.
