mint towers and eden heights

We've all seen a lot of press around MINT Towers, I for one don't know how to interpret it. on one hand it's a good source for cash flow for the following reason

a. low cost apartment
b. volume (8 flats on each floor..ouch!! thats a lot)
c. lot of press and visibility by means of hoardings etc which is also creating more visibility for eden heights

what i am not particularly impressed about is

a. I feel this compromises the "luxury" promise of the Eden heights
b. mint tower is at the entrance and there is still a lot of place open (where vilas were planned - what happens to those - MORE low-cost towers??? - hope not!!)
c. Gentry of the complex
d. pricing of mint towers

anyway, looks like construction is going well for the rest of the eden heights.

amit - your message in the last post about tower D - i am not sure if folks have receive the note for fifth installment for tower D...hope to have someone responding to this note

cheers

Pictures of GPL...

Amitabh visited the site on 3rd July and shared these pictures with me. Looks like there is significant progress on the ground...Amitabh can you highlight which towers these are -
Thanks Amitabh for sharing these pics..please keep 'em coming!!!

the web album on your left is also updated with these pictures and also those pictures that Manish (GPL sent)...check them out

Update - meeting with Sandeep and Mr KL Gupta

Sandeep and his dad (Mr KL Gupta) were kind enough to spend good time with me on 6th June 09 and here are some points we talked about - hopefully, I am able to put everything down

1. They have hired a dedicated CEO to focus on the Eden Heights project (which continues to be a brand building, flagship project for them). Though I don't remember the name of the guy but according to Sandeep, the CEO comes with very good credentials and was responsible for completing some Mahindra's project in faridabad ahead of time... YAY!!

2. Mr KL Gupta explained to me why we were seeing different progress in different towers

• he said that it was not practical to make all towers at the same time and we'll never find a construction project working that way.
• They are focussed on getting the building higher so that work can continue at a rapid pace even during monsoon - which made sense to me
• they have 2 contractors among whom the project is distributed - this helps in healthy competition, less dependancy on one, and higher quality - and sometimes this also leads to differnt pace in differnt towers

3. Both Sandeep and his dad were confident that the next 6 months would give all us better visibility of the project and we will definitely see work only getting faster and building coming up quickly from hereon

4. They are committed to the eden heights project and when i asked about date of completion - they acknowledged that there has been some delay (due to some licenses - now they have all) and will be able to tell us a fair date of possession in the next 6 months. They are very confident that the project will be delivered sometime during 2011...(that is what most of us thought when we took a poll on this site about 6 months back)...so obviously we need to stay clued on.

5. Villas- I was actually pleasently surprised when Sandeep said that they were assessing if the current economic times made sense for them to build vilas' and were re thinking the strategy for that land - it could be floors - its all on the drawing board but more to come.

6. Both Sandeep and Shree KL Gupta - sounded confident with the bank support to complete the project even if 100% sale was not achieved. They, however, did highlight that it was important for them to keep receiving funds/payments from end users so that they have working capital to keep the project moving -- which makes sense to me.

Bottomline - Like most of you, I too feel encouraged everytime I meet Sandeep and his dad and I am hoping that they will live upto the expectations and committments we have of them and the project.

I am writing this post in a little hurry but I think I have covered most of what I discussed with them and incase i remember more i'll make sure to update...NOW lets see what questions/comments you guys have. Teekam, i know you were visiting the site today, any updates??? Samir, hope you had a good trip back...

cheers guys

yours - Vik

Cheap tactics by TULIP...

Guys - our blog is more popular then we thought. Some builders like TULIP etc are printing out excerpts from this forum and mis-guiding potential buyers... however, what i'd like to tell folks who are looking at these print outs or this blog to make their purchase decision

• this forum is for and by the end users of GPL, we are not investors and our aim is to stay connected and provide qualitative feedback to the builder wherever possible
• this is an open discussion forum where we discuss our thoughts which may or may not translate into a real issue - so if you have specific questions about the GPL project and want some real perspectives - pls do not hesitate to contact us.

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On a different note - it was indeed nice talking to some of you end users and meeting Teekam. I think we have some good thoughts and questions which I will post to Sandeep and try to get some inputs from him.

More to come very soon...

~Vik

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Update - High Cost in Sec 70, Construction of tower I and villas

So I spoke last week with the GPL folks and here are the 2-3 things I'd like to focus on in this post and need your opinion and thoughts

1. Cost in and around Sec 70 - Its a known fact that commodities that control inflation rate in india has lost their sheen and prices are significantly down i.e cement, steel etc and the arguement by builders don't hold weight when they try to justify a no-frills apartment for 2500 - 2700 psft in a non-developed area. the cost just cannot be more than 1800 (tops)

2. Tower I and the villas - The work to start casting of the basement raft of tower I has not yet begun. The thought is to bring the other towers higher so that they are visible from the perimeter of the site (probably sometyhing to get the buyers interested...) so what this means for
A) those in tower I

• delay in tower I
• if GPL were only to focus on development of tower I at a later date, back to back payments of two installments etc

B> those in other towers

• quicker completion of the ground floor i.e you can expect to receive payment note for another floor (i am not sure how they intend to charge...)

3. Villas - the completion of the project means we should have the villas also done? so far there hasn't been a single advertisement for villas so when possession comes i think it should mean the complete EDen heights complex and not a half cooked complex where construction for villas is starting...

I am a little nervous, given that we would have soon paid over 50% of the cost of the flat and the construction is only upto basement raft and the delay in possession penalty is a meagre 2rupees/psqft...

I will be talking about these with Sandeep soon, if you have any perspective pls share. As i said it's good to stay close together never know when we may need to voice a common concern...

~vik