KSL plans realty foray

To set up IT park, a 5-star hotel, a mall and luxury apartments in Nagpur

KSL & Industries (KSLIL), which deals in textiles, has hitched its wagon to the rising lure of the realty business. The city-based firm has decided to convert its 25 acre property in Nagpur, the historic Empress Mills set up by Jamshedji Tata in 1877, into a township.

The township would be first of its kind in Nagpur with an IT park, a 5-star hotel, a mall and luxury apartments with jacuzzi, swimming pool and health club within the complex.

The township, with 3.5 lakh sq ft IT park, 6 lakh sq ft mall, a 300 room 5-star hotel to be managed by a external agency and 800 luxury apartments, is expected to come up in three years.

KSLIL has so far invested around Rs 100 crore on the property which it picked up last year. The company plans to develop the residential section with 800 flats first.

"We have started building with a small fund that we set aside for this, But the booking amount that come in for the flats will enable us to continue financing the rest of project," said Saurabh Tayal chairman KSLIL.

KSLIL picked up the land, currently valued at Rs 450 crore, last year for Rs 100 crore at a government auction and plans to invest another Rs 350 crore in the project.

The projected asset value of the township would be around Rs 1400 crore, said Tayal.

He further added that the idea was to replicate the Phoenix mall in Mumbai. "We see great business opportunities in Nagpur with the international airport and the Butibori SEZ coming up. Besides, Nagpur has a large agricultural community whose spending power has been growing of late," said Tayal.

Nagpur is the country's seventh largest city with a population of 40 lakh.