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After being stuck in limbo for seven years, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started redevelopment works at Topiwala Market in Goregaon, a civic body-run market. BMC is looking to complete all works by March 2027. Following an inspection on Thursday, BMC Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani directed officials to expedite work and complete the first two floors, which are slated to house 206 marketers, in the first phase so that vendors can use the space for their day-to-day business at the earliest.
Named after Anant Shivaji Desai, who gained the moniker of ‘Topiwala’ owing to his business of manufacturing topis (caps), the old building, which housed a civic market alongside a theatre, was demolished in 2018 to make way for BMC’s ambitious project to redevelop it into a 16-storey establishment in Goregaon.
Even though the redevelopment work previously commenced in 2019, according to senior BMC officials, the project hit a snag following the Covid-19 outbreak. Last year, the civic body floated fresh tenders for the project with the work finally taking off in October 2024.
Pegged at Rs. 172 crore, the 16-storey structure is slated to house parking spaces, an 800-seater auditorium and residential floors, according to officials. While the ground and the first floors will cater to the market encompassing 206 shops — 112 on the ground floor and 94 on the first — other storeys will act as parking areas, auditoriums etc.
The delay in the project over the years had drawn flak from the vendors of the erstwhile market, who had demanded a bigger space in the redeveloped market. According to senior officials, the raft foundation works have been completed thus far.
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