Tall & Urban News

In a major development, Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd (IHFL) has decided to auction the iconic Palais Royale building to recover dues worth Rs 971 crore (US$140 million) from the owner, famed industrialist Vikas Kasliwal. The IHFL has issued an e-auction notice for sale of all the fixed assets of realty major, Shree Ram Urban Infrastructure Ltd. (SRUIL) and its guarantor Vikas Kasliwal.

Three specific assets of SRUIL, situated in the Worli area, which include the property No. 1, on which Palais Royale—India’s upcoming tallest is also situated, will go under the hammer.

The saga of the Rs 3,500-crore (US$505 million) Palais Royale, in which some of India’s high-net-worth individuals, comprising big names from the business world, have booked units, started a decade ago. The country’s tallest residential skyscraper, currently standing mid-construction at almost 295 meters, is expected to have more than 160 high-end apartments, of which nearly 80 percent have been sold out.

Problems with finances, a deal soured with another prominent realtor, and serious lapses and illegal constructions detected by the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation, have conspired to put brakes on the progress of the project, which was supposed to be fully completed by 2012. Irked by the huge delays and a series of litigation in different courts, the flat buyers have even formed a Palais Royale Members Association to recover their collective investments of around Rs 1,200 crore (US$173 million).

For more on this story go to The Sentinel.