Chennai-based real-estate promoter Casa Grande Private Ltd (CGPL) finds the villa-apartment combination a sure-fire winner and a model that ensures an optimum price balance benefiting all the stakeholders, according to D. Senthil Kumar, Managing Director-Coimbatore Operations, CGPL.

The company, which is a strong player in villa development in Chennai is making an entry into Coimbatore market and will also launch a project in Bangalore in the course of this year.

Speaking to Business Line here on Wednesday on the sidelines of the launch of the Coimbatore project, he said the spiralling cost of land has made the land cost almost 40-50 per cent of a project cost. In a villa, the FSI achieved was up to 0.7, whereas in an apartment, this could go up to 1.5 to 2 based on location.

He said the villas are always priced about Rs 1,500/sq.ft more than the apartments. He said by offering a combination of villas-apartments in a project, the developer was able to ensure a fair deal to all the stakeholders-land owners, developers and the buyers.

Asked whether big ticket investors in villas, and the apartment buyers find a combined project a welcome proposition, he said though the investments in the two types of dwellings may vary, their specifications were common. He mentioned Casa Grande’s planned second project in the city on Tiruchi road where villas would be priced around Rs 2.5 crore while apartments would cost about Rs 1 crore each as they carry the tag of luxury. The combination of villas and apartments was a "winning mix" for all the stakeholders as this helps to achieve a fine "price balance", he said.

Senthil Kumar said there were enough land parcels within the Coimbatore Corporation limits and the local buyers preferred to have individual homes as they were fond of owning land. He said while there was an `over supply of apartments’ in the city, there was limited offering of villas, fuelling demand.

Referring to the Casa Grande’s Kalapatti project just being launched, he said it would have 79 luxury villas and 32 apartments. The villas in 1,650 sq.ft to 2,700 sq.ft area on a land area of 1,500 sq.ft to 2,400 sq.ft would carry a price tag of Rs 67 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore. The apartments of about 674 sq.ft would cost upwards of Rs 21 lakh. The total project cost would be about Rs 75 crore and it would offer all high-end amenities like club house, swimming pool, gym etc and scheduled for completion by Dec 2014.

M. Arun Kumar, Managing Director, Casa Grande Private Ltd, Chennai, said his company has emerged the "largest villa developer" in Chennai and would aim to replicate its success in Coimbatore. It was also planning to enter the Bangalore real estate market with a project later this year.

He said CGPL aimed at achieving a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore by 2016, of which he expected the share of Coimbatore to be about Rs 100 crore. The company has also entered areas like interior decoration and facilities management.

Arun Kumar, replying to a question as to how the two segments of buyers would feel about living in a gated community, said the starting price of Rs 67 lakh for a Kalapatti project villa "is not a very high" price and was closer to affordable levels. While the villa owners would pay a monthly maintenance charge of about Rs 3,000-Rs 3,500, for apartment owners it might be around Rs 2,500 a month. The facilities would be managed by the company itself.

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