The Hindu Business Line : Golden Gate plans ‘affordable’ residential project in Bangalore

A 995-sq-ft apartment in Bangalore for Rs 19 lakh! This is the price at which Golden Gate Properties is offering two-bedroom apartments at ‘The Commune’, its affordable residential project in Bangalore.

“The project aims to fill the need-gap that has risen in the market owing to spiralling real estate costs,” said Mr K. Pratap, Managing Director, Golden Gate Properties.

A self-sufficient township, the project located near Mysore Road with proximity to the NICE Corridor, would have 3,500 units – two- and three-bedroom apartments ranging between 900 sq ft and 1,500 sq ft – in total.

The ‘affordable project’ tag hasn’t stopped the developers from providing super amenities – including mini stadium, a retail centre, bank counter, ATMs, kindergarten school, medical centre, wi-fi connectivity, two club-houses, among others. The company plans to invest Rs 500 crore in this project, which would also be replicated in Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, Coimbatore, Mysore, Pune and other cities.

According to Mr Pratap, it took the company four years to master the art of building affordable housing solution. “But having achieved this, we will roll out such projects in these cities. For the next one year, our focus would be on the ‘Commune’ projects,” he said.

The developers would also be using hi-tech construction technology that would ensure faster completion of the project, reducing labour requirements by almost 75 per cent. Because of the volumes involved, the company’s profit margins would be reduced by almost 50 per cent, he said.

Two Commune projects in Hyderabad and one more in Bangalore have been planned, for which land has been acquired.

The four projects, including the one announced on Thursday, are estimated at Rs 2,500 crore, for which the company would be investing about Rs 500 crore, and the rest would be from sale proceeds.

The other ‘Commune’ in Bangalore would be located on Sarjapur Road, which would come up on 100 acres with 5,000 units being planned. The first of the ‘Commune’ in Hyderabad would be at Tellapur – about 6,000 units over 50 acres, and the other near Secunderabad – about 3,000 units.

The company, which had Rs 500-crore turnover last year, is targeting revenues of Rs 1,000 crore now; with many projects under way, Mr Pratap said the target was achievable.

The company plans to enter the capital market in two years. The company, which had received an entity-level $70-million funding from RREEF India Advisors, a subsidiary of the Deutsche Bank Group, is also looking at funding at SPV levels from the group.

“There may be two SPV-level infusions towards the end of this financial year,” Mr Pratap said.

For its IT SEZ in Bangalore, the company is planning an investment of about Rs 800-900 crore, and hopes to “raise private equity at an SPV level in 2-3 tranches, from maybe a single equity player,” he added.

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