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Mumbai city witnesses a boom in redevelopment activities with several new projects on the horizon

The Malad Ganga Cooperative Housing Society, located in the western suburbs of Mumbai is currently being redevelopment. Five buildings have already been demolished while two more are in the process of redevelopment. The building was categorized as C-1 by the Bombay Municipal Corporation, indicating it is dilapidated and dangerous, and the only option given to its residents was to demolish it entirely.

The redevelopment met with a temporary hurdle when six minority society members filed a petition against it over  concerns about relocating their businesses as they owned shops in the commercial area of the building. In order to safeguard their businesses, the petitioners demanded that the first to fourth floors in the F and G wings of the building be retained, with their eight ground floor shops remaining untouched. Further, they wanted to have the first choice when it came to the new location of their shops in the redeveloped structures. 

These demands were squashed by the court, when the judge ruled in favour of the redevelopment project, allowing the project to proceed without interference. The court found their demands unreasonable and unfair to other tenants who had peacefully vacated their premises for the redevelopment process. 

Redevelopment of housing societies has been picking up pace in Mumbai, with several micro localities witnessing a sudden surge in redevelopment projects. Official data reveals that in 2022, 780 redevelopments projects were undertaken in the Bandra-Khar-Santacruz belt alone. In 2023, we see this trend moving north toward Andheri West, with several projects underway in sub localities of Lokhandwala, Oshiwara and Malad. Kolte Patil developers recently inked a deal to redevelop two housing societies in Bangur Nagar in Goregaon, while Kalpatru announced last month that it would begin a redevelopment project in Borivali. In Andheri West, Chandak Group is set to redevelop a housing society spread across 3.6 acres of land.

The city has also witnessed large cluster redevelopment projects, with some of the most significant ones located in BKC, Goregaon, and Parel. This has been further fuelled by the State Cabinet’s decision to cut premiums for cluster redevelopment by 50% in June to promote activity.  Mammoth slum rehabilitation projects (SRA projects) are also underway in the city. Earlier this year, the Adani Group successfully won the tender to redevelop Dharavi slums. The redevelopment of Bhendi Bazaar is already ongoing and there now talks about redeveloping BDD chawls in Worli. 

Redevelopment entails the process of rebuilding a residential or commercial complex by demolishing the existing structures and erecting new structures in its place. Redevelopment is usually considered for building complexes that have crossed a certain age and are in dire need of major repair. In some instances the local civic body, after thorough assessments, may come to a conclusion that the structure of a building has considerably weakened and therefore needs to be demolished. Private builders are often incentivised to take up redevelopment projects with the lure of additional FSI and TDR. Several housing societies in Mumbai have opted to self-redevelop the complex rather than engage builders, signally a new trend in the redevelopment space. 

 

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