Want to play golf? Go to the mall

Rooftops of malls are the new playground for city-slickers. Several malls are using their rooftops for activities such as football, box-league cricket and golf for the young and restless to sweat it out.

Mall managers say shrinking spaces in metros are instrumental in driving up the astro turf numbers in such cities as Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chandigarh and Hyderabad.

Astro turfs are artificial fields that can be hired on a pay-and-play basis.

The cost in these turfs range from ₹1,200 to ₹4,000 an hour. Interestingly, some of these turfs are open from 5 a.m. till midnight.

In Mumbai alone, experts estimate seven to eight astro-turfs in the western suburbs.

Some of the malls which have astro turfs include Tiger Play in Citi Mall, Kick off (Heera Panna), Dribble (Viviana mall) and Dreamfields in RCity Mall.

Susil S Dungarwal, Chief Mall Mechanic, Beyond Squarefeet Advisory, says: “In metros, open spaces are shrinking. Also, every mall is becoming a community centre by itself and mall managers are trying to maximise the revenue potential by adding a novelty. A concept such as an astro turf brings additional footfalls, which translates into revenue for retailers and F&B players”.

The sentiment is echoed by Sachin Sanghvi, the promoter of Tiger Play, an astro turf operator. He said the company has been getting enquiries from places likes Pune and Nagpur. “The reason why this is growing is because people want to play in a clean and sanitised environment.”

Sanghvi said cost of setting a typical astro turf inside a mall stood anywhere between ₹20 lakh and ₹4 crore.

“For most malls opting for an astro club, the hook is always entertainment,” says Aman Fakih, CEO, Runwal Malls. He said the space is either leased out in the open space — rooftop or open garden — or the company forms a joint venture or even settle for a revenue share arrangement. Typically, the space required to operate such a venture is anywhere between 5,000 sq feet and one lakh sq feet.

Sunil Shroff, Senior Vice-President, Viviana Mall, said it is not just football but also games like skating, bowling and basketball, which have indoor or rooftop pitches.

“Technology has taken over the world of sports with both children and teenagers relying on online and virtual gaming.”

He said the Viviana mall’s FIFA-certified, floodlit synthetic grass field, Dribble Football, is the closest one that offers a stadium experience and encourages over than 1,20,000 dribblers who frequent the turf.

Interestingly, many astro turfs also have presence in the digital world. In case one falls short of players or teams, they can go to the organisers’ websites and find a team or player.

COMMENT NOW