Sabya takes over 4-storied building at Horniman Circle

Designer to move in next year; estimated rent is little under ₹2 crore per month. The designer is hoping for a mid-February opening. The new space will house his couture, ready-to-wear, jewellery and the soon-to-be-launched home collections.

Mumbai: Kolkata-based couturier Sabyasachi Mukherjee, who opened his first international store earlier this month in New York City, has inked an even more remarkable property deal in Mumbai.

Sabya takes over 4-storied building at Horniman Circle

The 48-year-old will take over a gargantuan ground-plus-four-storey neoclassical building, on the corner of Veer Nariman Road and Cawasji Patel Street. The property’s external restoration is complete while its internal renovations are on in full steam.

The designer is hoping for a mid-February opening. The new space will house his couture, ready-to-wear, jewellery and the soon-to-be-launched home collections. He is estimated to pay close to ₹2 crore a month as rent.

Sabyasachi’s neighbours will be international luxury labels Hermès and Christian Louboutin. It is also right down the street from Zara near Flora Fountain, housed in the century-old, 50,000-square feet Ismail Building, that it famously moved into in 2016, for an annual rental of around ₹30 crore.

Sabyasachi’s new address was the former home of HSBC’s Asset Management arm, which has owned and occupied the colonial edifice since the 1970s. The building was sold to Kolkata’s Karam Chand Thapar (KCT) Group for ₹83 crore in 2021, from whom Sabyasachi has rented the building.

It’s been sometime that South Mumbai witnessed a large independent commercial sale. Those in the know say that it is among the very few colonial-era buildings that are still in prime condition. HSBC held a 999-year lease for the plot on which the building stands. The land for the property was acquired in 1888, and construction of the Grade II heritage property was completed in 1912. The built year engraved on the building reads 1913. It is currently known as the ICP Fort Heritage.

“The Horniman Circle area is a very prime real-estate area right now,” said Malcolm Dadrewala, CEO, Nagarwalla Estates. His firm had brokered the Hermès transaction for the statuesque Bharat Insurance building in 2011. “There is a lack of big commercial properties available in South Mumbai right now, especially with DN Road fully locked in, thanks to the metro construction,” he added.

The designer’s current Mumbai store is located at the adjacent Kala Ghoda area, which he will surrender eventually. The present store has his clothing lines and jewellery collection.

Sabyasachi also has flagship stores in New Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad. He sells his jewellery at New York department store Bergdorf Goodman, and in Dubai at Bayt Damas. His first international fashion store opened in Manhattan’s stylish Christopher Street earlier this month.

In January 2021, the Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail group (ABFRL) acquired 51 percent of the Sabyasachi Couture company for ₹398 crore. Sabyasachi Couture was founded in 1990, and had a revenue of ₹274 crore in 2020. It then rechristened itself Sabyasachi Calcutta LLP and its net worth stood at ₹774 crore as on March 31, 2021, according to credit rating agency Care Ratings.