The Hindu Business Line : NRI builder zeroes in on Coimbatore

Coimbatore, Dec. 19 A Houston-based builder, originally hailing from Tirunelveli district in South Tamil Nadu, has planned to invest Rs 100 crore in the first housing project in Coimbatore and make the city a hub for his global operations.

He is also planning to come out with a project in Mysore which is also emerging as an IT hotspot before expanding his footprint in the real estate market in the country.

Speaking to Business Line here, Mr Raj Natarajan, Director, Mint Homes Private Ltd, Coimbatore, said Coimbatore was a natural choice for launching his Indian operations because of ‘its commitment to quality of life’, educational institutions and ‘trainable workforce’.

He said the company has begun the preliminary work on its first project in Coimbatore – a 136 apartment complex on 2.7 acres in Sowripalayam and bookings would formally commence in January and the first tower should be ready by January 2009.

The entire project would be completed by end-2009. It also has planned to come out with projects such as townships, eco-friendly resorts and integrated organic farming in a phased manner.

When completed, the Coimbatore project would cost about Rs 100 crore.

He said the company has planned an apartment project in Mysore and integrated townships were planned both in Coimbatore and Mysore with each requiring land area of 250 acres.

Eco-friendly resorts in hill areas like Valparai in Coimbatore district would need 400-500 acres since he was particular to retain the beauty of the area.

For the integrated organic farming too, he was looking for land in Coimbatore and this farming venture required a large area.

Mr Natarajan said he was trying to build the infrastructure for his Indian operations here that could be used to launch operations not only in rest of the country but also globally.

Since his company was a zero debt company, it has to take up one project at a time as the business was self supporting.

Pricing of project

Asked for the pricing of the Coimbatore project, he said the apartments in Sowripalayam would be priced between Rs 48 lakh and Rs 75 lakh and these would be 2/3 bedroom apartments having 1,450-2,000 sq.ft in area.

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