Himalaya House,which was built forty years ago,was the first highrise in the capital.Located in the Connaught Place,it set the trend for others to mushroom all over CP and the capital.
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine what Connaught Place would be like if there were no highrises there.It was exactly forty years ago that the first highrise in the capital came up in October,1970 here - Himalaya House at 23 Kasturba Gandhi Marg (then Curzon Road) was ready to be occupied.And the rate in that highrise - hold your breath - Rs 2 per square feet! And,surprisingly,there were not many takers for office space on lease in the building even at that rate.And if anybody wanted to buy space in order to start an office,the rate were a stunning Rs 67/sq feet in the 12-storeyed building.
And would you like to know the current rates,for both lease and purchase purpose,in any of the highrises in CP,like Himalaya House for instance Hold your breath,once again - today you will have to shell out a neat Rs 150 to Rs 200/sq ft for lease and Rs 25,000/sq ft for outright purchase.Naturally,the rates have gone up incredibly since those good old 70s.
Sanjay Khanna,director of Kailashnath Developers Pvt Ltd,whose grandfather,Kailashnath Khanna,built the first high rise in the capital,says: "I grew up listening to the stories related to the making of Himalaya House both from my grandfather and father.It was a tough call for them.There was stiff resistance from a few family members who argued that such a building there would have no takers.But,my grandfather was determined to make the highrise.He knew that the time had come for vertical growth and ultimately his view prevailed in our family."
Old-timers of the capital will recall that tall buildings in Connaught Place were built on the ruins of old style colonial bungalows - these were huge mansions.There are still some such mansions left in Kasturba Gandhi Marg,Vakil Lane and Tolstoy Marg.The process which was started with Himalaya House lasted until the time when two huge bungalows gave way to Antriksh Bhavan and Ambadeep building on Kasturba Gandhi Marg in the early 90s.There is still one bungalow,though in shambles,on Barakhamaba road which is awaiting the day when a highrise would eventually replace it.
Lalit,who worked with the legendary Kailashnath Khanna,especially on the first highrise,recalls that when it was ready it became an instant tourist attraction for the residents of Delhi who went there to gawk at the then tallest building.After much effort,various companies of DCM group,Indian Explosives Ltd (IEL) and Air India moved in taking space on lease at the rate of Rs 2/sq ft.Both Air India and IEL took as much as 15,000 sq ft each.Later,there were several law firms that also took space on lease basis.Surprisingly enough,the reserved car parking rate was Rs 150 per month for a single car in 1970.This seems to be pretty steep considering the fact during those days India was ages away from any auto revolution.Even Sanjay Khanna admits that the car parking rates were very high.Today,the current rates for dedicated car-parking in CP are around Rs 5,000.
It is said for Kailashnath Khanna that he was the man who had started the trend of redeveloping properties in joint ventures with landowners in the capital.Sanjay Khanna adds: "After he (Kailashnath Khanna) tasted blood with Himalaya House,he built Kanchenjunga building on Barakhamba Road and many other prestigious residential buildings on Ferozshah Road."
Once Himalaya House set the trend,Akashdeep building too came up in Connaught Place,built by the Ansal Group.And then it was the beginning of a new order in CP - within a couple of years,the floodgates were opened and highrises mushroomed everywhere.
IN 1970,THE LEASE RATE OF OFFICE SPACE IN THE FIRST HIGHRISE IN CP WAS RS 2/SQ FT WHILE IT WAS RS 67/SQ FT FOR PURCHASE CURRENTLY,THE LEASE RATES FOR OFFICE SPACE IN THE SAME AREA ARE RS 150-200 /SQ FT WHILE AN OUTRIGHT PURCHASE THE RATE IS NEARLY RS 25,000/SQ FT ..!!!
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