Girgaum’s century-old landmark up for sale

Amidst new redevelopment projects in every lane in Girgaum, another century-old landmark, Gai Wadi, is now up for sale.

Amidst new redevelopment projects in every lane in Girgaum, another century-old landmark, Gai Wadi, is now up for sale.

HT Image

Officials of the Bombay Panjrapole Trust, which owns Gai Wadi, one of Girgaum’s last surviving traditional cluster housing complexes, confirmed that the trust has invited tenders from developers to redevelop the complex. The tenders will be opened on September 17.

The wadi, comprising five residential buildings, garages and metal workshops, is spread across 18,634 sqm or nearly six acres. The annual rent collected from 176 tenants and 18 lease holders adds to a mere Rs 4 lakh owing to the rent freeze under the rent control law.

The prime property situated off Jagannath Shankarseth Road is expected to fetch more than Rs450 crore, said market analysts. The area has a floor space index of 1.33 to 2.

“We have been incurring losses for several years now,” a trust official said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media. “People sublet and make thousands of rupees but we get few hundred rupees. There is no way of sustaining this anymore.”

However, the handover may not be smooth. Several legal issues, including more than 20 pending cases between the owners and alleged illegal tenants and lease holders, will have to be ironed out.

“The Trust had been depending on donations to maintain the premises. We wish to use the money received from the sale of the land for better upkeep of the panjrapole or infirmary near Bhuleshwar, where more than 300 cattle and poultry are looked after,” said Adim Mogradia, secretary of the Trust.