A Dubai-based Gujarati-Jain business family with interests in real estate, shipping and logistics owns two apartments above the 65th floor of Burj Khalifa, the tallest residential-cum-mixed-use tower in the world, currently at 828 metres. A family member graciously proffered his visiting card when the correspondent was visiting in January. The address on it was, inevitably, highlighted.
Incidentally, the top penthouse in Burj Khalifa is also owned by another Indian.
Now, Lodha group, the Mumbai-based developer, is giving such connoisseurs of the skies a desi option bang in the middle of the metropolis.
It is launching the world’s tallest residential tower on 17.5 acres in the defunct Shrinivas Mills compound at Lower Parel. Lodha had bought the plot in 2005 after a court case on compensation to the mill workers was settled.
The base price of an apartment in Lodha World Place is expected to be Rs8 crore, while ‘villas in the sky’ are expected to cost up over Rs40 crore. It will be interesting to note how the builder can arrange for the massive water supply that will be needed. Burj Khalifa’s water supply system pumps up an average of 946,000 litres per day.
Lodha has hired New York-based architects Pei Cobb Freed and Partners, who have designed iconic buildings like the The John Hancock Tower in Boston, the Louvre Pyramid in Paris and the Waverock, an integrated township in Tellapur in Hyderabad in 2008.
The architectural team will collaborate with structural engineering firm LERA. The main tower will have 117 floors and 350 flats. The company is still awaiting some permissions.
The towers have been designed like a petal with three leaves protruding outside. “All three leaves will rise up to 45 floors; two of them will go up to 81 floors; only one will reach the 117th floor,” said a source close to the development.
The project will take 4.5 years to complete. Lodha has roped in Samsung Engineering and Construction for construction work, the company responsible for the twin Petronas Towers in Malaysia, once the world’s tallest.
The project requires funding of close to Rs1,000 crore.
