In a startling revelation, documents procured under the RTI Act demonstrate that a Punjab revenue officer in Ferozepur allotted 82.75 acres of the Indian Railways land to a private party in 2006. The area, worth over Rs 20 crore, has a 100m-long rail track of the Ferozepur-Jalandhar section running through it since 1933 — the year the property was purchased by the department.
Sources said the railways came to know about the scam sometime last year and immediately took up the matter with the Punjab chief secretary (CS) in June 2008. A month before their meeting with the CS, northern railway’s senior divisional manager R K Gupta had written a letter to the manager of State Bank of Patiala, Moga, apprising him of the manipulation of records. He named three persons — Harmandeep Singh, Navjeet Singh and Sandeep Singh — who had availed a loan of Rs 10.95 lakh.
The divisional manager wrote another letter to the Ferozepur deputy commissioner in December, seeking details of the land transfer at Laluwala village to one Harbans Kaur on June 25, 2006. He sought a clarification on how the land was transferred to a private party without the railways’ permission.
More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Thai hotel chain plans to enter Indian market
Thailands hospitality chain, Amari is looking to foray into the Indian market with plans to open 10 properties, which may include hotels and resorts, across the country in the next three years.
The (Amari) group is looking to open 10 properties in India by the end of 2012 and talks are on for six of the prospective sites. The hotels and resorts would be developed under individual joint ventures, an informed source said.
The Bangkok-based group is currently in talks with some local developers in Kerala and Goa for six of the properties and some joint venture agreements are likely in the months to come, the source added.
More : thehindubusinessline.com
From India, a Homespun Brand of Hospitality
MAYBE it was the patterned bedspread and white appliqué pillows on the double bed that made the simple room so inviting. Or perhaps it was the sun streaming through windows topped with blue batik shades. And then there were the small touches: a framed pencil sketch of a traditional Indian mansion above the television; a red gerbera daisy on the table; a thermos of hot water next to an assortment of teas.
If this guest room in Vasant Vihar, the diplomatic neighborhood of New Delhi, felt like someone’s home, that’s because it was. The marble-floored room was in one corner of a three-bedroom apartment that belonged to Dipmala Bindra, a baker and homemaker in her 50s. Furnished with a private bathroom and fresh towels, it was part of a novel hotel experiment taking place in India.
There is a major shortage of hotel beds in India; the entire country has only about 130,000 rooms in branded hotels — some 10,000 less than in Las Vegas, according to HVS, a global hospitality consultancy group. And with thousands of visitors expected to converge on greater Delhi for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the hotel shortage may become especially severe.
More : travel.nytimes.com
Delhi Metro in JV with IHCL constructs hotel in Dwarka
According to a PTI report, Delhi Metro is constructing a hotel in a Joint Venture with the Tata Group to cash in on the growing demand for accommodation for tourists, particularly during 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. The six-floor hotel, spread over an area of 29,999 sq mt, is proposed to come up at metro station complex at Sector 21 in Dwarka and will have 400 rooms.
It will be constructed in collaboration with the Tata Group’s hotel division, Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), a first of its kind from the stable of Delhi Metro, which has so far been providing shopping space to private firms at its stations, a senior official said.
With the State Environment Impact Assessment Committee (SEIAC) giving approval recently for the project, costing Rs 320 crore, the DMRC has expedited the construction work to complete the hotel before the Games.
Source : travelbizmonitor.com
Amari plans to add 40 properties across Asia Pacific
Amari, Thailand’s largest domestic hotel management company with an inventory exceeding 3,000 rooms and employing over 3,000 staff, on Wednesday announced that it will be investing $44.1 million in a corporate growth strategy. The group, which currently has 11 properties in key destinations across Thailand, including Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Chang and Pattaya, plans to operate 40 further properties in Asia Pacific by 2018.
This announcement comes one year after the appointment of president and CEO Peter Henley who has spent his tenure to date focused heavily on preparing for change, allocating investment to the enhancement of systems and processes, revitalisation of the Amari brand and corporate management restructuring.
A key cornerstone of this growth plan is the revitalisation of the brand identity. Building on Amari’s foundations of managing a mixed portfolio of city-based hotels and resorts, the company is looking to strengthen and broaden its brand proposition.
More : economictimes.indiatimes.com
Top NY court to hear challenge to development that includes a planned New Jersey Nets arena
New York’s top court will soon decide if the state has the power to seize private property to build the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, which includes a planned new arena for the New Jersey Nets.
The Court of Appeals will hear arguments Wednesday about whether the planned project constitutes legal public use of government authority to condemn property and force its sale for redevelopment.
Some small businesses and homeowners are challenging the Empire State Development Corp.’s move to force them out, saying it’s wrong simply to enrich developers.
More : blog.taragana.com
Shareholders of Asian Hotels could benefit post demerger
Delhi-headquartered Asian Hotels is a leading owner and operator of five star hotels and resorts in the country. The company’s properties are
operated by Hyatt International that provides marketing, branding and management services. Beginning with Hyatt Regency in Delhi, the company now has one property in Mumbai and Kolkata with total room inventory of around 1,200.
RE-STRUCTURING:
The company is in a restructuring mode and it will be divided into three independent companies each owned by its Asian Hotels key promoters –the Jatia Group, the Gupta Group and the Saraf Group. These three promoter families together own 63.6% stake in the company.
Post de-merger , nonpromoter shareholders will get an equal numbers of shares in three companies . For every existing 10 shares held in the company, the shareholders would be allocated five equity shares in each of the three entities post the demerger.
Green building concept on the rise in India
Green building development has gained momentum in India despite global economic slowdown, with its supply rising manifold to 6.8 million sq ft in the last seven years, a study said.
The supply of green space has seen substantial jump from 20,000 sq ft in 2002 to 6.8 million sq ft in 2009, property consultant DTZ said in a report.
The total supply of green space has increased to 6.8 million square ft till September from 3.8 million square ft in early 2007, mostly contributed by IT/ITeS sector, the report said.
More : thehindubusinessline.com
Property owners win lawsuit
A jury awarded $5 million to a group of Colton property owners on Thursday, finding San Bernardino County liable for lost value on their property due to a 10-year delay in completing a road project.
The jury award included $3.38 million for taking the plaintiffs’ property rights, $1.175 million for lost opportunities during the 10-year-delay and $578,014 in interest.
Michael Kehoe, an Irvine attorney representing the property-owners who include Howard Wells and Duke Hill, called it a “great verdict” for his clients.
Moe : pe.com
Delhi eyes rise in circle rates to raise revenue
New Delhi After proposing an increase in LPG rates, bus and Metro fares, the Delhi government is now looking at a proposal to increase circle rates, which will affect property rates in the Capital. The state revenue department has prepared a proposal to increase circle rates by 10 per cent; this is the first revision since these rates were introduced in 2007. The move came after stamp duty collection dipped drastically and authorities in adjacent Gurgoan and Noida hiked circle rates, Finance department officials said.
Officials said the governments revenue earning from stamp duty decreased by Rs 100 crore this year, compared to the same period last year.
Circle rate is the minimum amount at which one can buy a property — it includes the cost of land and the cost of construction. At present rates, male property owners need to pay a one-time stamp duty of 8 per cent of the propertys value for registration; women have to pay 5 five per cent. Delhi is divided into eight categories for calculating circle rate, ranging from Rs 6,900 to Rs 43,000 per square metre as cost of land, and Rs 2,370 to Rs 14,960 per square metre as cost of construction.
More : expressindia.com
Parsvnath to raise Rs 600 cr by selling stake in realty projects
Parsvnath Developers, a Delhi-based real estate company, is in talks with various private equity funds to raise around Rs 600 crore by the end of 2009-10 by selling stakes in its projects, a key official has said.
A major chunk of the funds will go towards repaying debt, the official said. Parsvnath has a debt of nearly Rs 1,600 crore and plans to reduce it by half by the end of the current financial year, he disclosed. The company has a total 79 million sq ft of land under development.
Parsvnath recently raised Rs 168 crore by selling shares to investors such as Fidelity, Merril Lynch and Morgan Stanley through qualified institutional placement (QIP). The company plans to use 70 per cent of proceeds towards debt payment and the remaining amount to fund its projects.
More : sify.com
Parsvnath raises Rs 225 crore through stake sale in projects
Realty major Parsvnath Developers is understood to have raised Rs 225 crore through equity sale of two of its projects to private equity investors and plans to utilise the funds to reduce its Rs 1,600-crore debt and meet construction costs.
Sources said the company had closed two transactions — one worth Rs 150 crore and another Rs 75 crore — with private equity firms. The company has sold stakes in its two projects located in the national capital region (NCR). When contacted the company’s spokesperson declined to comment.
With these two deals, Parsvnath has raised over Rs 500 crore in the last four months through private placement of shares and stake sales at project level. The fund-raising exercise is meant to cut its debt amounting to Rs 1,600 crore by at least half by the end of this fiscal.
More : business-standard.com
Milestone invests Rs 110cr in Godrej property in Kolkata
Milestone Real Estate Fund has invested Rs 110 cr into a residential project to be developed by Godrej Properties in Kolkota, a release from Milestone said.
Though Milestone did not disclose the percentage of stake picked by itself, it said that both iself and Godrej will jointly develop 3 million square feet of residential property, it said.
After a long lull in private equity deals in real estate, the action seems to be hotting up with recently Red Fort Capital saying that it has bought additional 4 per cent stake in Parsvnath’s premium project in Delhi.
Source : business-standard.com
Genuine demand still hasn’t returned to realty market
So is the demand for homes getting real again? It seems to be a mixed bag so far. While developers are aggressively talking abouta spurt in demand, industry experts and buyers attribute this revival to the strong nexus between developers and intermediaries.
SundayET spoke to a cross section of developers, bankers, buyers and realty brokers to assess the ground situation. In fact, the demand in the residential segment for Q3 of this calendar year remained marginally higher than the previous quarter. However, leading developers said that the growth has been optimistic and some even claimed a 30% rise in demand in these three months.
Last month, India’s largest real estate developer DLF claimed to have sold 1,250 flats in two hours in the second phase of its Capital Greens project in Delhi. Rival Unitech too said that they had a sale of 3,500 apartments across cities between July and September. Similarly, BPTP sold nearly 2,100 apartments in the same quarter.
More : economictimes.indiatimes.com
Hotel industry to add 55,000 rooms in 4 years
The Indian hotel industry will almost double the number of rooms from the current levels in 3-4 years by adding an estimated 55,000 rooms, as per a study by consulting firm HVS India.
The development of new rooms is going to be led by regional real estate players and hospitality firms as most large real estate developers have abandoned or scaled down their expansion plans. The study revealed that fewer new rooms were announced last year but developers started work on a higher proportion compared to 2007-08.
Of the 94,115 rooms announced by various hotels and real estate developers for the year ended March 2009, 60% of the rooms saw some active development. Compared to this, in the previous year (April 2007-March 2008) companies announced plans to build over 1.14 lakh rooms of which 58% saw actual development.
More : economictimes.indiatimes.com
Time to invest in office property
Anup Nair was a proud owner of a 1,500 sqft office space in an A grade office unit in Gurgaon. When slowdown hit, he decided to put this space up for lease and move the entire office operations to his South Delhi unit. However, he did not get lease rates anywhere close to what had been quoted prior to the recession.
Even at lower rates it was difficult to find a tenant. However, in June 2009, he found a tenant who was willing to pay reasonable rates for fully furnished ready-to-move-in property.
Nair is no exception. The commercial property market today is hugely oversupplied. Says Arun Goel, CEO of Dewan Housing Finance Ltd Venture Capital, Commercial property markets across India are oversupplied at the moment. However, with business showing signs of a turnaround, take-up is happening today at 40-50 % lower rates than in June-September 2008. When supply exceeds demand values are bound to drop.
More : economictimes.indiatimes.com
Parsvnath raises Rs 225 crore through stake sale in projects
Realty major Parsvnath Developers is understood to have raised Rs 225 crore through equity sale of two of its projects to private equity investors and plans to utilise the funds to reduce its Rs 1,600-crore debt and meet construction costs.
Sources said the company had closed two transactions — one worth Rs 150 crore and another Rs 75 crore — with private equity firms. The company has sold stakes in its two projects located in the national capital region (NCR). When contacted the company’s spokesperson declined to comment.
With these two deals, Parsvnath has raised over Rs 500 crore in the last four months through private placement of shares and stake sales at project level. The fund-raising exercise is meant to cut its debt amounting to Rs 1,600 crore by at least half by the end of this fiscal.
More : business-standard.com
SmokeHouse Delhi at DLF Place brings delicacies for Delhites
Biki Oberoi, as usual, was way ahead of his time when he launched the Loudon Street Deli in Calcutta (when it had not yet become Kolkata,
naturally!) with a repertoire of cold cuts, cheeses and breads in the early 1990s. Needless to add, the delicatessen closed down pretty soon even though it was located in a city that was traditionally no stranger to cured meats and bakery breads. It took the veteran hotelier a decade and a half to revisit the idea, now quite the toast of the town: Delhi, alas, not Calcutta!
The delicatessen — by definition a place where smoked and cured meats, cheeses, fresh salads, dips and relishes, desserts are made and served — has finally arrived in India. Restaurateurs have launched their own in Mumbai, including the Indigo’s Rahul Akerkar some three years ago. Recently, fellow Mumbaikar and winemaker Rajeev Samant opened one at his vineyard in Nashik. So when I heard that Smokehouse Grill had opened a deli in Delhi, I had to go there. More so since it happened to be in the new capital of good food in Delhi, DLF Place Vasant Kunj.
The nicest thing about the 80-seater SHD is its brightness, a change from the dim lighting of most new places. It’s entirely creme and black with quirky line drawings making interesting trompe l’œil effects, and swivel chairs to make conversation easier with the person at your elbow! There’s also outdoor seating hemmed in by a white picket fence. A bar and the deli counter with the mandatory chalk board listing house specials, complete the effect.
Morhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/the-sunday-et/consumer-life/SmokeHouse-Delhi-at-DLF-Place-brings-delicacies-for-Delhites-/articleshow/5061128.cmse : economictimes.indiatimes.com
US-based property group RE/MAX sets up shop in Gujarat
Aims to garner 25 % of brokerage transactions in Gujarat After Jones Lang LaSalle and Cushman & Wakefield, another US based real estate organisation is now making inroads in Gujarat.
RE/MAX India, a division of US-based RE/MAX International Property Group, is all set to commence its operations in Gujarat next month.
The Delhi-headquartered real estate brokerage franchising company is currently identifying companies interested in buying broker-office franchises to operate throughout Gujarat.
More : business-standard.com
DLF sells 1250 flats within 2 hrs in Delhi
DLF, one of the largest real estate developers in India, has launched the second phase of its housing project in the heart of New Delhi and managed to sell all 1250 apartments within two hours. The size of the apartments is between 1,210 sq ft-2,720 sq ft and would carry effective price tags between Rs. 68.69 lakh and Rs. 1.86 crore. Even with increased price, we have received tremendous response for our product. We initially planned to launch 650 units in the second phase, but due to huge demand we decided to offer more, DLF Managing Director T C Goyal told Press Trust of India (PTI).
The Phase 2 of the project is called Capital Greens and is offered at Rs. 6,750 (2-BHK), Rs. 7,500 (3-BHK) and Rs. 8,000 (4-BHK) per sq ft. DLF has announced that it will be offering a discount of Rs. 500 a sq ft for timely payment and 8.5 percent rebate on down payments.
DLF has increased the rates at which the company has sold Phase 2 as compared to Phase 1. DLF had launched around 1,400 units in Phase 1 at a price of Rs. 4,500 (2-BHK) and Rs. 5,500 (3-BHK). The project is coming up at Shivaji Marg, near Moti Nagar. In 2007, DLF had acquired the 38 acres from DCM Shriram and Lohia Group for Rs. 1,675 crore.
Source : siliconindia.com