Sobha plans Rs 1,500 cr Global Mall in Bangalore

Group diversifies into retail, hotels

Sobha Group, the Rs 1,200 crore construction and real estate major based in Bangalore, is diversifying into retail and hotels.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, chairman of Sobha group P N C Menon said that after building palaces, residential dwellings and IT campuses, the group is now set to enter retail and hotel by taking up Sobha Global Mall.

For its foray into retail and hotels, the group has conceived an integrated project "" Sobha Global Mall "" which includes hotel, office spaces, amusement park and leisure activity under one roof in the heart of Bangalore city.

Mall project construction is to commence by end of this year and executed in phase manner within three years.

Currently, the retail sector is in an exciting phase with 12 million retail outlets looking for some form of expansion in the country. The sector is estimated to get Rs 2,500 crore of investments in 2006 alone and is likely to touch Rs 20,000 crore by 2010, said Jackbastian Kaitan Nazareth of Sobha group.

With hectic retail activity in the country, mushrooming of malls is taking place countrywide. Currently 39 are under various stages of construction and is likely to go up to 54 by 2006 and 2000 by 2010, he added.

For the Sobha Global Mall project, the Sobha group has entered into a joint venture with Davanam Constructions (company owned by former Karnataka minister D K Shivakumar) to develop old Minerva Mills on a 17-acre land behind the city railway station at Rajajinagar entrance on Old Mysore Road.

To exploit the location of the property, the group plans to recreate a city square atmosphere with both high end and economy shopping, recreational activities backed by hotel and office spaces.

"The project with a built-up area of 2.8 million square feet and with an investment outlay of Rs 1,500 crore will include a star hotel, office spaces, amusement park and leisure activity under one roof," said Menon.

Of the 2.8 million square feet, about one million is to be reserved for retail and hypermart functions and the rest for setting up an ice skating rink, amusement park, discotheque to accommodate 1,000 people and two 15-floor towers, one each for hotel and office space, he added.

To tackle the parking problem, the company plans to go in for 4,500 covered parking bays and outdoor two wheeler parking.

Clearing doubts about possession of the prime property, company director D V Harish said the land was bought when National Textile Corporation (NTC) auctioned Minerva Mills land for a consideration of Rs 66 crore some years ago.

Sobha group has set a target of 8 million square feet of construction (three million square feet residential projects and five million through contracts) for 2005-06, as compared four million square feet achieved in 2004-05. Sobha Global Mall project is likely impact company's turnover only after 2007.