1500 and 2190 going for 3000 PSFT

greetings for the year ending season!!!

The good news is that there is sudden uptick in demand and the new sectors are seeing it too. Let me focus on Eden Heights progress

1. Flats sized 1500 and 2190 are now being sold for 3000 psft (YAY!! finally some reason to cheer).
2. Flat 2150 - is being offered at 2800 psft.
3. Launch of penthouses on the top-floor- the design work is not finalized yet but the size is going to be a ballpark 3500Sqft and these apartments will be priced differently.
4. Possession is expected before the close of 2011 (delayed --- 2 more years..a little disappointing considering that i made the booking in Nov 07 - 4 YEARSS as opposed to promised 3 years at the time of booking...while this is expected in India but I hope its no longer than that!!)
5. I visited the site a few weeks back and the quality of work being done seems good - which is encouraging.

I am still n ot sure of what GPL groups strategy is with the land they had initially kept for villas - I wont be surprized that if market is upbeat then we might seem those villas being offered.

Hope you guys have a great rest of the year.

Vik

Back!!! visit to the Eden heights site and pictures

hola!!! Neighbors,

Long time, no excuses for being away. Call it the FY'10 planning blues or simply being distracted with other things - including baby managements (guess you guys know I have 2 toddlers - one is 2.5 yrs and the other turning 1 next month). We'll i'll not bore you to death with my personal details so getting to the point

> Wow!! there seems to be a lot of renewed interest in real-estate market and in sec 69-70 too. there is
-- Unitec Sunbreeze (sec 69/ 2800PSFT approx)
-- Unitec Vista (sec 70/ 2750 PSFT approx)
-- Tulip Whites (sec 70 - not sure whats the rate)
-- DLF Corporte greenes - Sec 74
-- Tulip orange - Sec 69
-- The land next to eden heights is reserved for Tata housing..but their plans are not yet on the horizon

> there is a tremendous activity on the golf course extention road.
-- pioneer park
-- MGF emrald
-- IREO
-- Palm drive sec 66 is coming up really well but need about 2+ cr to get that.

ok. here are the pics

Tower A - 4bkh - almost done upto 3rd floor
Tower B and C - Basement raft work is going on
Tower D and E - 4th floor is under progress
Tower F and G - 4th floor is under progress
Tower H - Ground floor is under progress
Tower I - basement raft still un progress

View all

Get your own

i have tried to identify the towers so you guys see it clearly.



ONE concern I have

the gap between towers is not more than 2-3 feet..which seems so small and almost scary. I am sure the civil guys have done some research - but it looks ugly and one can jump from one balcony to another if you have one of the 2150 sqft apartments. i'll speak GPL folks and get their reasoning.

Bottomline - work is going on but not at a pace i'd have liked - nonetheless there is progess. MINT Towers are almost sold out so good thing is that GPL folk have cash flow.

What other things have you heard??...here is the latest link to the pics

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vikrant.bhatnagar/EdenHeightsOCTOBER2009#

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.

--------------------------------------------

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

--------------------------------

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

basement raft - more!!

Hey Folks ~ its been a while and I am going to keep this posting short. So i cycle a lot these days- bought a really cool TREK bicycle and do all sorts of things and explore new places around gurgaon. And to get to one of the places I usually cycle past GPL Eden heights site - which is good as it gives me regular updates of progress on the ground.

Ok - looks like most of the basement raft work is done except for tower I (my tower!!!)- where the digging has also not started which is disappointing but nevertheless the progress on the ground is going on at a good pace. Here are a couple of pics to this morning

What other updates do you have?

The Site, Payment, Basement Raft and pics

NEW PICS on your left

Guys, thanks for making this forum very interactive. I was about to write the 28th comment in the previous post but thought this deserved a whole new section.

So, today (7th March, 09), I went to the site and was pleasently surprized to find a very smartly dressed Manish at the sample flat and I also met Sandeep Gupta at the sample flat. Manish gave me a tour of the construction site (PICTURE are posted on the link to your top left). Here are some reviews

Sample Flat
>> Sample flat was very neatly maintained - they fixed the seepage etc.

Construction update
>> Basement raft of Tower A (4bhk) is completed - pic attached
>> Basement raft tower D,E,F almost completed (i may be a little confused with the alphabets but will update after checking with manish once again)
>> basement raft for B,C, G..work in progress
>> basement raft H, I - digging going on will take a few weeks more for casting.

Southern Periphery
>> Sector 56 now connects till vatika city (sector 66 and Sohna) - very nice road and take approx 5 mins to get from sec 56 to Sohna.

Overall, I felt a little reassured after looking at the progress at the site. Sandeep was with his friends and I was with my family, so we couldn't spend a lot of time together. We would be meeting next week. But in my brief chat, he felt very confident of the project ...

check out the pics and feel free to post your questions or provide updates as you all have been doing all along. Much appreciated...

~Vik

Eden Heights - Whats next?

There was not much news that I had to share so I didn't update the site but thanks all for the updates and comments. The one thing I can tell you is that groups and forums like this are more popular than ever (many end users are creating/joining such forums to muster strength to wear this real estate storm). So here is some update

1. As promised I tried contacting Sandeep Gupta on phone but couldnt get to him but will talk to him as soon as I am able to and provide some more details to all of you

2. I did speak with Manish and there was nothing new I heard i.e
>> work on basement raft is goingon
>> project is as per schedule
>> 2.5 years from now will be the possession
>> the land around GPL which was owned by Unitech is now bought over by Tata housing
>> if someone decides to move out 20% of BSP is retained by GPL.

3. Some other aspects
>> the good news is that the home loans are more affordable now (9% compared to 13%)
>> the other thing we all may be thinking is how all of the eco meltdown impacts the GPL project and what it'd mean for us as end users
== would there be more construction around sector 70?
== is the project viable for gpl
== would GPL compromise on the quality due to increased cost
== the property prices are expected to fall further (does it make sense to stay invested in a sector 70 if you get a ready to move in apartment in the more developed sector in gurgaon)

obviously, these are tough times for the economy, for each of us. Lets stay close and monitor the progress of eden heights closely. Thanks for keeping it active and for all the comments and emaisl you guys have sent.

~vik