Antilia (building)

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Antilia (building)
Antilia.JPG
Antilia as seen from Altamount Road
General information
Status Completed[1]
Type Personal Residential
Location Altamount Road, off Pedder Road, South Mumbai
Coordinates 18°58′6″N 72°48′35″E / 18.96833°N 72.80972°E / 18.96833; 72.80972Coordinates: 18°58′6″N 72°48′35″E / 18.96833°N 72.80972°E / 18.96833; 72.80972
Construction started 2005
Completed 2010
Opening 5 February 2010
Cost Officially $50-70m[2]
Technical details
Floor count 27
Floor area 400,000 Square Feet of Living Space
Lifts/elevators 9
Design and construction
Owner mukesh ambani
Architect Perkins & Will
Structural engineer Sterling Engineering Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Main contractor Leighton Holdings

Antilia is a 27-floor personal home in South Mumbai belonging to businessman Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries.[3][4] A full-time staff of 600 maintains the residence, reportedly the most expensive home in the world.[5]

Contents

Name and location[edit]

The building is named after the mythical Atlantic island of Antillia. Antillia, according to Aristotle, was a huge island in the Atlantic Ocean known to the Carthaginians. [6]

The Antilia building is situated on an ocean-facing 4,532 square metres (48,780 sq ft) plot at Altamount Road, Cumballa Hill, South Mumbai, where land prices are upward of US$10,000 per square metre.[7][8] In August 2008, Altamount Road was the 10th most expensive street in the world at US$25,000/sq m[9] (US$2,336 per sq foot).[10]

Construction[edit]

Antilia was designed by Chicago based architects, Perkins & Will. The Australia-based construction company Leighton Holdings began constructing it.[11] The home has 27 floors with extra-high ceilings (other buildings of equivalent height may have as many as 60 floors).[12] The home was also designed to survive an 8-richter scale earthquake.[13]

Controversies[edit]

The transactions surrounding the acquisition of the land on which this building is constructed, as well as various aspects of the construction and design of this building seem to raise significant issues of regulatory malfeasance and corruption among the various parties involved.[14]

In 2002, this property was purchased by a Mukesh Ambani controlled entity - Antilia Commercial Private Limited from the Currimbhoy Ebrahimbhoy Khoja Trust, in direct contravention [15] to section 51 of the Wakf Act.[16]

This land was owned previously by the Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Yateemkhana (Orphanage). This charitable institution had sold the land allocated for the purpose of education of underprivileged Khoja children to Antilia Commercial Private Limited in July 2002 for Rs 21.05 crore.[17] The prevailing market value of land at the time was at least Rs.150 crore.[18][19][20][21]

The Waqf minister Nawab Malik opposed this land sale and so did the revenue department of the Government of Maharashtra. Thus a stay order was issued on the sale of the land. Also, the Waqf board initially opposed this deal and filed a PIL in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the trust. The Supreme Court while dismissing the petition asked the Waqf board to approach the Bombay High court. However the stay on this deal was subsequently vacated after the Wakf board withdrew its objection on receiving an amount of 16 lakh from Antilia Commercial Pvt Ltd and issued a No Objection certificate to Mukesh Ambani.[22][23]


In 2007 the Maharashtra government said the structure is illegal because the land's owner, the Waqf Board, had no right to sell it, as Waqf property can neither be sold nor transferred.[5] Ambani then obtained a No Objection Certificate from the Waqf Board after paying Rs 16 lakh (U$36,100) and began construction.[5] In June 2011, the Union government asked the Maharashtra government to consider referring the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation.[24][25][26][27]

In regards to the three helipads, the Indian Navy said it will not allow the construction of helipads on Mumbai buildings, while the Environment Ministry said the helipads violate local noise laws.[5] Issues have also been raised with regards to the construction of an illegal carpark[28]

Cost and valuation[edit]

Indian media had frequently reported that Antilia is the world's most expensive home costing between $1 and 2 billion US Dollars. [10][29][30] Thomas Johnson, director of marketing at architecture firm Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates that was consulted with by Reliance during building floor plan design, was cited by Forbes Magazine as estimating the cost of the residence at nearly rs2000 .[31] In June 2008, a Reliance spokesman told The New York Times that it will cost $50–$70 million to build.[32] Upon completion in 2010, media reports again speculated that, due to increasing land prices in the area, the tower may now be worth as much as US$1 billion.[33][34]

Public reception[edit]

“ It's a stupendous show of wealth, it's kind of positioning business tycoons as the new maharajah of India. ”
 
— Hamish McDonald, author of Ambani & Sons: A History of the Business [4]

Tata Group former chairman Ratan Tata has described Antilia as an example of rich Indians' lack of empathy for the poor.[35] Tata also said: "The person who lives in there should be concerned about what he sees around him and [asking] can he make a difference. If he is not, then it's sad because this country needs people to allocate some of their enormous wealth to finding ways of mitigating the hardship that people have."

Some Indians are proud of the "ostentatious house", while others see it as "shameful in a nation where many children go hungry."[4] Dipankar Gupta, a sociologist at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, opined that "such wealth can be inconceivable" not only in Mumbai, "home to some of Asia's worst slums," but also in a nation with 42 percent of the world's underweight children younger than five.[4] Recently Ratan Tata said that "It's sad Mukesh Ambani lives in such opulence".[36]

Author activist Arundhati Roy questioned whether the "Ambanis hope to sever their links to the poverty and squalor of their homeland and raise a new civilisation" through Antilia.[37]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Reeba Zachariah. "Residence Antilia, Mumbai, India". Emporis.com. Retrieved 2010-07-29. 
  2. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/business/worldbusiness/15ambani.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all
  3. ^ "A peek into Mukesh Ambani's $2 bn Mumbai home". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 1 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-29. 
  4. ^ a b c d Mumbai Billionaire's Home Boasts 27 Floors, Ocean and Slum Views by Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, October 24, 2010
  5. ^ a b c d Headlines Today Bureau. "Mukesh Ambani all set to move into world's costliest house: India : India Today". Indiatoday.intoday.in. Archived from the original on 18 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-14. [dead link]
  6. ^ "Antilia | Atlantipedia". Atlantipedia.ie. 2010-05-31. Retrieved 2013-06-02. 
  7. ^ "Inside The World's First Billion-Dollar Home". Forbes. 2008-04-30. Archived from the original on 24 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-25. 
  8. ^ Woolsey, Matt (2008-05-01). "A peek into Mukesh Ambani's $2 bn south Mumbai home". New York, NY: ReDiff via Forbes. Retrieved 2009-08-07. 
  9. ^ Frank, Robert (2008-08-05). "The 10 Most Expensive Streets in the World - The Wealth Report - WSJ". Blogs.wsj.com. Retrieved 2010-11-17. 
  10. ^ a b "Mittal's address more expensive than Ambani's - Money - DNA". Dnaindia.com. 2008-08-04. Retrieved 2010-11-17. 
  11. ^ "Oh brother, spare me the time - World". smh.com.au. 2008-08-02. Retrieved 2010-10-13. 
  12. ^ "Personal Green Skyscrapers - The 60 Story Antilia House (GALLERY)". Trendhunter.com. Retrieved 2010-07-29. 
  13. ^ Kwek, Glenda (2010-10-15). "India's richest man builds first $1-billion home, Antilia, Ambani". Melbourne: Theage.com.au. Archived from the original on 30 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-28. 
  14. ^ http://www.firstpost.com/politics/mukesh-ambanis-house-an.tilla-under-govt-scanner-53260.html
  15. ^ http://www.samayindia.in/business-news/89-cbi-to-probe-mukesh-bhais-antilla
  16. ^ Mukesh Ambani’s new house – Antilla | aavaas
  17. ^ "State may refer Ambani’s Wakf land deal to CBI". The Indian Express. 02 Aug 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2012. 
  18. ^ Madhurima Nandy (2008-08-05). "Altamount Road in Mumbai is world’s 10th dearest address". Livemint. Retrieved 2013-06-02. 
  19. ^ "Residential Land in Walkeshwar Mumbai South - for sale". 99Acres.com. Retrieved 2013-06-02. 
  20. ^ Sunday, June 2, 2013 (2010-05-26). "Lodha secures Mumbai land for Rs 4,053 cr". Business Standard. Retrieved 2013-06-02.  Text " 02:51 PM IST " ignored (help)
  21. ^ Sunday, June 2, 2013 (2008-05-03). "SC rejects plea to stop work on Mukesh mansion". Business Standard. Retrieved 2013-06-02.  Text " 02:51 PM IST " ignored (help)
  22. ^ [1][dead link]
  23. ^ "Mukesh Ambani pays 16 lakh to Wakf board, gets NOC". Ibnlive.in.com. 2007-07-09. Retrieved 2013-06-02. 
  24. ^ Ambani dream house stands on shaky ground - Yahoo! India Finance
  25. ^ Makarand Gadgil (2011-08-01). "Maharashtra govt to review Ambani home land deal". Livemint. Retrieved 2013-06-02. 
  26. ^ "News # 020613-145152]". Newkerala.com. Retrieved 2013-06-02. 
  27. ^ "Centre wants CBI to probe Mukesh Ambani home deal". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 2013-06-02. 
  28. ^ "Nod for Mukesh Ambani's Antilla parking lot illegal - Mumbai - DNA". Dnaindia.com. Retrieved 2013-06-02. 
  29. ^ "Indian industrialist to build rs2000 "home" amidst Mumbai’s multimillion slum-dwellers". Asian Tribune. 2007-06-07. Retrieved 2010-11-17. 
  30. ^ "Mukesh Ambani's new abode worth billion - Business News - IBNLive". Ibnlive.in.com. 2010-02-03. Retrieved 2010-11-17. 
  31. ^ "Inside The World's First Billion-Dollar Home". Forbes.com. 2008-04-30. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-17. 
  32. ^ Giridharadas, Anand (2008-06-15). "Indian to the Core, and an Oligarch". The New York Times. 
  33. ^ "Man Builds Himself a Million Dollar Home". Mumbai, India: ABC News. Retrieved 2009-08-07. 
  34. ^ Woolsey, Matt (2008-05-01). "Mukesh Ambani's US$2 dollar home world's most affordable". New Delhi, India: Times of India via Forbes. Retrieved 2009-08-07. 
  35. ^ "'Antilla', Mukesh Ambani's house, shows lack of empathy for poor: Ratan Tata". The Times Of India. 22 May 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2011. 
  36. ^ The author has posted comments on this article (2011-05-22). "'Antilla', Mukesh Ambani's house, shows lack of empathy for poor: Ratan Tata - The Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2013-06-02. 
  37. ^ Capitalism: A Ghost Storyoutlookindia.com. Retrieved 9 November 2012

External links[edit]

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