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Journalism of Courage
With real estate development in major metros across the country reaching a saturation point,the pressure to mitigate stress levels has shifted to peripheral townships. However,even in these areas like Greater Noida in Delhi NCR,Navi Mumbai in the financial capital,Rajarhat in Kolkata and Whitefield and Electronic City in Bangalore infrastructure is yet to reach standards where living becomes not just comfortable but advantageous.
Those who had earlier bought homes in say a Lajpat Nagar,a Palm Avenue or an Andheri when property prices were still affordable,may complain about congestion now. However,they still have the benefit of location. From educational institutes and places of work to provision stores and vegetable shops,most amenities are in close proximity. When the suburbs sprang up,home seekers rushed there due to the lower prices. But,simple daily activities like buying milk and bread was a harrowing experience. Having to drive kilometres to the closest store became a frustrating everyday chore.
Mixed land development projects also have better marketability besides higher appreciation levels. Such projects tend to give better returns to the investor as against standalone residential projects. However,areas that fall into mixed land use need to be regulated in order to avoid unlawful developments from springing up. They have to be planned and a a good mix of commercial establishments is an imperative.
A MATTER OF CONVENIENCE
Says Om Chaudhary,chief executive officer at FIRE Capital Fund,We have promoted four fully-integrated township projects,which are mixed land use developments. Our experience with selling real estate in Bangalore,Indore and Nagpur reinforces the belief that there exists a good market for such products. The customers are on the lookout for good residential options which offer better quality of life on account of minimum traveling. Institutions too prefer to invest in real estate within townships since they offer better residential neighborhoods,well planned infrastructure and social infrastructure. FIRE Capital Fund is the countrys first private equity fund for investments in real estate.
Several state governments have laws specifying a percentum of developed area in a residential project that has to be reserved for commercial activity. However,it is up to developers to mark an equal balance in the character of stores and also cater to all basic amenities. State norms however do not govern what kind of shops the developer is required to put up. Says Amrapali Group chairman and managing director Anil Kumar Sharma,We obviously wont put 10 provision shops. There should be a good mix. We have to include medicine stores,stationary shops and bank ATMs as well.
Since most people have started opting for group housing societies in the outskirts of the city,the necessity to have such a convenient mode of operation is the need of the hour. When one stays in the city outskirts,the basic amenities have to be made more approachable to all the customers. We plan to introduce such projects in the near future, says RPS Group managing director Rakesh Chand Gupta. We have to provide place for education and medical facilities to cater to the needs of those housed in our projects. We try to provide all amenities. Now projects in NCR are getting bigger. There is a large population moving to Noida and we have to provide each facility, adds Sharma. RPS has already implemented several projects in Faridabad.
BETTER RETURNS
Mixed use development is gradually becoming a very lucrative option for investors. Says Ravi Saund,head of business development at CHD Developers,In the medium and long-run,mixed development townships get developed faster since there is option for health care,retail,commercial,residential and educational institutions.
Mixed land development projects have better marketability as well as price appreciation. Such projects tend to give better returns to the investor versus pure residential standalone projects,which are far away from educational institutions,hospitals or retail outlets. The overall occupancy across residential ,office and retail is higher inside mixed used townships hence the rate of appreciation of properties is also much higher. Returns for investors are therefore higher, says Chaudhary.
ELIMINATING MISUSE
Normally,mix-land development projects need large acreage to not only provide residential options but also host commercial developments. It is very difficult to find such large,empty plots within the city. Therefore,the outskirts become favoured destinations for such developments. However,there is a need for proper jurisdiction so that there is no misuse of land.
Sumit Bansal,joint managing director at Innovative Developers,says,When a zone or neighborhood is identified as a mixed-use area,there is a high risk that lawless development of the most profitable land uses will result,and the mix that is sought will be lost altogether. To avoid this,jurisdictions should adopt specific mixed-use zoning ordinances to permit this development. Appropriate clauses need to be adopted in the ordinances to specify the percentage distribution of different types of land uses within each zone. Citizen participation in this process will help immensely as well.
But once a township starts getting inhabited,it is easy to get organised retail companies to occupy the retail space. The availability of a catchment,good infrastructure and reasonably priced retail spaces often make these mixed land use developments attractive for setting up of retail outlets, says Chaudhary. There is now a shift towards location selection driven by profitability of business as the main consideration rather than the hype associated with a particular retail destination.
