Adar Poonawalla yet to move in to his Rs 750 cr sea-facing mansion

Six years after Adar Poonawalla successfully bid for the spreading US consulate property at Breach Candy, he has been unable to occupy his Rs 750 crore purchase.

The Indian government has so far denied approval for the 2015 sale of the two-acre, sea-facing mansion built by the Maharaja of Wankaner in the late 1930s.

The property was granted on a 999 year lease to the US government in 1957. The US consulate worked from the Breach Candy premises called Lincoln House till about a decade ago before it was shifted to a much bigger property in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC).

The CEO of the Serum Institute of India, Poonawalla, is considered to have already paid a substantial chunk of the Rs 750-crore successful proposal. He told the media that it is now for the US and India to take a call. He has nothing to do with it. They have to decide on the issue.

But, MD of global property consultant Cushman & Wakefield, Gautam Saraf, told the media that Poonawalla was still invested in the US Consulate property and had not backed out. DTZ, which was the consultant for the sale of this estate, later merged with Cushman & Wakefield.

A US consulate spokesperson told the media that concerning the US Consulate property in Mumbai called the Lincoln House, they are working with the Government of India to reach a satisfactory deal to achieve the lease transfer of the property.

It is the defence estates department under the Union ministry of defence, which has delayed the transaction since 2015, alleging the land belonged to it.

Two years ago, Adar had told the media that this department had been holding on to the approvals without mentioning any reasons.

Adar had approached two defence ministers, Arun Jaitley and Manohar Parrikar, who both passed away, to fix the matter. Despite their support, nothing moved.

Recently, the New York Times recorded that the top authorities in the US government took it up with the Indian government, including former secretary of state Mike Pompeo who wrote to the external affairs minister.

In 2011, the US government had fixed a reserve cost of Rs 850 crore for the three-storied consulate building but had noticed few takers because of development restrictions.

In 2012, Tata Housing Development Company (THDC) had developed as the front-runner for Lincoln House and had nearly matched the reserve cost of Rs 850 crore.

The property has a large part of open land in its sea-view backyard, which housed a tennis court and a small garden patch and is a Grade-III heritage property.

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