MUMBAI: The metamorphosis is virtually complete. The mills of central Mumbai, once the engines of economic growth that employed four lakh people, have long fallen silent.
Smoke-stacks have been razed to make way for residential towers, malls, food courts,multiplexes and even a five-star hotel.
As the last of the 40,000-odd jobless mill workers stare into an uncertain future, their former employers are in a rush to tie up with real estate developers waiting to gentrify central Mumbai.
"Lower Parel will become the heart of south Mumbai,'' predicts Atul Ruia, director of Phoenix mills at Senapati Bapat Marg. But before it becomes the upmarket destination that it wants to be, something will have to be done about the state of the roads which are in a pathetic condtion.
The BMC is in the process of concreting the s t r e t c h , where traffic jams are now a regular feature. Real estate market sources said that new building projects on more than 200 acres of mill land had either commenced or were in the pipeline in Lower Parel, Lalbaug, Byculla, Worli and Dadar. "There are more than 30 mills where about 50 lakh sq ft of land can be developed within the next five years,'' says Ashok Narang, a leading real estate consultant.
Jaidev Mody of the Piramal Group calls this the "most happening part of town'' and praises the quality of construction and nicely designed spaces. "Moreover, the mill belt is centrally located, making it accessible to north and south Mumbai,'' he adds. According to him, the new developments have become the preferred destination for corporates mainly because real estate prices are cheaper than those in south Mumbai.
Gyansham Seth of Great Eastern Shipping, which constructed one of the first residential towers (Belvedere Court) in the Modern Mills compound, says that they have "clients who sold their Carmichael Road flats to move into Belvedere Court''.
The transformation has been rapid. Take for instance crowded Lalbaug, an area whose hallmark is its annual Ganesh mandals and chivda gullies.
A 28-storey fivestar hotel, ITC Grand Central, is scheduled to be completed by mid-2004 here. Constructed on land which once housed ITC's tobacco factory, it will be central Mumbai's first five-star hotel.
But the juggernaut of change is clearly the Ruia's Phoenix Mills at Senapati Bapat Marg. Now an entertainment hub with six retail stores, seven restaurants and three entertainment complexes, it has been rechristened High Street Phoenix, and according to spokesperson Tanya Lowe, attracts close to 50,000 people on weekends and holidays. This causes the traffic to pile up outside, for while the mills have developed infrastructure, the outside hasn't kept pace.
And Phoneix Mills is only half risen from the ashes. The Sky Zone, a huge shopping complex with international brands and a Designer Floor is coming up in the second phase to be completed by December.
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