Labdhi Lifestyle acquires Rajesh LifeSpaces’ stressed project in BKC

Mumbai: City-based developer Labdhi Lifestyle has acquired Rajesh LifeSpaces’ stressed project in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) through an agreement between the developers and project financiers Mirae Asset and J M Financial, the company said on Friday.

The acquisition follows an appeal by MahaRERA, the state real estate regulatory authority, to self-regulatory organisations (SROs) of developers like NAREDCO, CREDAI-MCHI etc to step up to resolve the issue of stressed housing projects. A meeting was held recently on the issue.

According to the deal, Labdhi Lifestyle will be investing over ₹200 crore to develop a mixed-use project, including repayment of debt raised from both lenders. Labdhi will take over as the lead developer of the project which has an estimated revenue potential of ₹600 crore, and complete the project within the next 2 years. The project has been rechristened Labdhi Searene and is located next to the income tax office in G Block of BKC. The acquisition will see a complete exit of Rajesh Lifestyle and JM Financial, while Mirae Asset will be repaid soon.

The project is spread across 1.25 acres of land at BKC with a total development potential of 2 lakh sq ft carpet area across residential, commercial and retail spaces. The project will consist of around 300 units in 2 & 3 BHK configurations with apartment prices starting from ₹2 crore onwards.

Vikas Jain, CEO, Labdhi Lifestyle said, “We are trying to bridge the gap between stressed balance sheets and a sound real estate project executor. We are building an ecosystem wherein we take over such stressed projects and turn them around with our execution capability and balance sheet strength. There are a number of such stalled projects that need a bailout.” The developer has been taking over stressed projects stuck due to lack of insufficient funds and turning them around.

According to MahaRERA data, the number of lapsed projects in the last five years has increased to 5,756 now, and 1,882 projects are stalled and in most of them, 70% of work is complete.