Platinum Poonawalla
Dr Cyrus Poonawalla: commitment to the community
Poonawalla is also the sole sponsor of the Iranshah Udvada Utsav, scheduled for December 26-27, 2015 (See "Poonawalla’s patronage,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, September 21, 2015), underlining his commitment to the community.
In what has been described as a "bulge bracket property deal,” Poonawalla bought the iconic Lincoln House in Bombay’s Breach Candy area on September 12, 2015 for a mind boggling Rs 750 crore (US$ 114,162,440). Earlier housing the American Consulate, the two acre Grade III heritage property with a built-up area of about 50,000 sq ft had been in the market ever since the Americans moved to a more secure campus at the Bandra Kurla Complex in 2011, but with the US government’s reserve price of Rs 850 crores the property lacked takers.
Formerly Wankaner House, the palace of Pratapsinhji Jhala, Maharaja of Wankaner, the property’s heritage character and historic value is what interested the Poonawallas, the patriarch revealed to Sunday Mid Day (SMD) of September 13, 2015. Negotiations for the sale were handled by son Adar. "I can’t divulge more details due to our confidentiality agreement with the US government and the consulate… However, the modalities regarding the transfer of the property, etc are still being worked out,” Poonawalla informed SMD. "Adar believed that the deal was attractive considering the prevailing market conditions when few individuals could make such a big offer,” he noted.
"There is no development potential on the plot because of its heritage value and other restrictions. So developers backed out,” Poonawalla told The Times of India (TOI) of September 14. Though Grade III properties are now open for redevelopment, the Poonawallas intend to use the royal seat as their family residence. Extensive renovations will be required as much of the area was earlier used as office space by the American Consulate.
Pratapsinji’s son Digvijaysinh Jhala had told SMD in 2011: "The huge appreciation in land prices in the last five decades has proved that we sealed one of the worst deals of selling a royal mansion,” while recalling childhood memories of playing in the erstwhile palace. The proceeds from the deal with the US Consulate in 1957 had helped the then Maharaja to pay off his taxes.
Poonawalla’s purchase is the latest and most high end in a series of big ticket real estate deals, with industrialist Kumaramangalam Birla having bought Jatia House on Malabar Hill for Rs 425 crores just a few weeks prior, and the Godrej family acquiring Meherangir, also on Malabar Hill for Rs 372 crores in 2014.