Lower Parel is no hovel. It's Mumbai's most happening spot now, thanks to corporate patronage
POWER Parel, that 150-year-old, centrally-located mill area of Mumbai, has metamorphosed. Once used by the well-shod and perfumed clan only when traffic was diverted through its 2-km long arterial Tulsi Pipe Road (now Senapati Bapat Marg) during a heavy downpour, LP is now a destination. Thanks to some very determined people like the Ruia group, Govani Builders and professionals like Pritish Nandy and A.D. Singh who recognised its potential early.
In fact, LP is no longer known by its old, lower-class nomenclature. It's Upper Worli, rubbing shoulders with its more prosperous, fashionable neighbour. Drive down from Mahalaxmi and you will see the modest grey shells of mills all along the road. But many like Phoenix Mills, Kamla Mills, Sri-ram Mills and Raghuvanshi Mills have recently seen an influx of very swish pockets. Over the past four years, advertising agencies like Ammirati Puris Lintas (APL) and Trikaya, corporates like Reliance Industries and Star TV and publications like Mid-Day have moved in, some lock, stock and barrel, some in phases. Today, these mills house elegant offices of over 150 companies. Upmarket residential apartment blocks like Phoenix Towers and Falcon's Castle sprung up a couple of years ago, complete with amenities like swimming pools and gymnasiums.
The latest addition is The Bowling Co, a 30,000-sq ft sport and family entertainment centre of international standards, which opened in May in the Phoenix Mills compound, with a 20-lane, state-of-the-art bowling centre, a pool room, a video arcade and a sports bar called Silly Point. Mumbai has never seen anything like this before. The three partners—comprising the Ruias, Pri-tish Nandy and The Chatterjee Group of New York—have roped in International Management Group (IMG) to market the centre. Bigwigs like Hutchison Max, Coca-Cola and United Breweries have teamed up. Says A.D. Singh, CEO, The Bowling Co: "With all these offices and residential complexes coming up, I saw a great opportunity in such a complex to service their needs." Singh, who has a 10-year experience in starting off successful restaurants like Not Just Jazz by the Bay and Copa Cabana, sees the centre as the next great attraction for the Indian middle class, not just the glitterati. He keeps the crowds coming in in the afternoons by offering low bowling rates with free entry and coaching thrown in. The early evening slot is yet to be utilised completely as "Indians tend to go back home right after work and not unwind", but late evening again has the place swinging into action. Over 2,000 people are already visiting this new temple of pleasure everyday.
And that isn't all. Fire and Ice, which claims to be India's largest discotheque, is expected to open its doors in a fortnight. Sakshi Art Gallery has opened in Sriram Mills. There are restaurants in various stages of completion—Soul Kadi, an answer to downtown Kon-kan Cafe, and Offbeat Cafe, a mix of Prithvi Theatre and the National Centre of Performing Arts. To open later are Bollywood Boulevard and India Talkies, modelled after Planet Hollywood, with a host of stars like Kar-ishma Kapoor backing it. Phoenix Mills has now become Phoenix Garden City.
HOW did it all start? Five years ago, when property rates were sky-high in Mumbai and refused to obey the law of gravity, corporates started looking for cheaper options for their expansion. Lower Parel came in handy. It's ideally located—less than half-an-hour from the business hubs of Nariman Point and Ballard Estate as also Mantralaya and Bombay Gymkhana, a 10-minute drive from a slew of classy restaurants, the race course and Dadar. It's also a five-minute drive from posh localities like Warden Road and Malabar Hill. Depending on where you are in LP, you will be just five minutes away from one or the other local rail stations on the western line. All the advantages at almost half the price.
More construction companies are now attracted to LP. Tata Housing has put up two towers in the east side of the area, referred to as simply Parel. Says S.S. Joshi, vice-president, marketing and sales: "We can provide modern amenities and proximity to all the relevant areas at a third the cost." Says Sur-esh Balakrishna, vice-president, APL: "Office space rent here comes between Rs 40 to Rs 60 per sq ft against Rs 90 to Rs 120 sq ft in Nariman Point."
And corporates are happy after the move. Echoes Ameer Ismail, president, LinOpin-ion, the APL public relations arm: "Our people are happy about moving in here because commuting is faster for most people coming from suburbs, besides the larger workspace we have." And the lifestyle spots help. Balakri-shna admits he goes bowling during his workday and finds it a great stress-buster.
Easy to understand why even residential blocks are getting snapped up. Reliance, for instance, has bought over 60 apartments in three towers. Gayatri Seith, homemaker and wife of a Hindustan Lever manager who moved into Falcon's Castle two months ago from Chennai, is satisfied. "Gym, tennis court, lawns, groceries and vegetables delivered to the doorstep; it really is convenient," she says.
But that's only half the story. The other is dull grey buildings housing jobless mill workers and monstrous, largely dilapidated industrial estates. Says Balkrishna Jagannath Sanas, son of a millworker, a peon in a private company and a resident of the darker side for the past 27 years: "The new offices do not provide employment for any mill worker." The most serious issue of the underbelly of this prosperity was brought up in a spate of dharnas in front of Phoenix Garden City. The Girani Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti, the mill workers' association behind these dharnas, says their jobs have paid for LP's development. Alleging that the sale of Phoenix Mills is completely illegal, they argue that this money should have been used to revive the mill. The unwarranted target has been The Bowling Co.
And Singh is quick to defend himself. Of course, he's just a tenant like hundreds of others. As for the abject poverty co-existing with the new prosperity, that's the reality of this city, that's everywhere. How the divide is blurred remains to be seen. To beautify the skyline on the other side, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has cleaned up hawkers from the area. As Sanas says, "A few years ago, the millworkers felt the anger against the development of the mills but today they are getting used to it." No matter what detractors say, LP is now on a steep growth curve. Definitely, no longer a (Tulsi) pipedream.