Anant Ambani, Radhika Merchant wedding: All that you need to know about the venue Bandra Kurla Complex

Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), where the wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant is taking place on July 12, is the country’s costliest commercial real estate district. Their wedding is taking place at the Jio World Convention Centre in BKC, Mumbai. The wedding festivities of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant will commence on July 12 with the Shubh Vivah and will conclude on July 15 with a reception ceremony. The event is slated to be a star-studded affair with dignitaries from the entertainment, sports and business world from across the world in attendance.

The Mumbai Traffic Police has issued an advisory for BKC and several employees working in BKC are expected to work remotely on Friday (July 12). "Our office has not issued any advisory officially, but there has been a traffic advisory and hence several employees are working from home,” an employee working in the area told HT Digital.

Along with this, several hotels in BKC are all 'sold out' on the days of the event. Some hotels are charging anything between ₹1 lakh and ₹5 lakh a night due to increase in demand from July 11 to July 15.

All about BKC

BKC was conceived as a commercial business district as an alternative to Nariman Point, the oldest commercial hub of Mumbai in the 1970s. It covers an area of 370 hectares.

In 1977, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) was appointed as the Special Planning Authority for the planning and development of the complex. BKC’s planning proposal was prepared by MMRDA and was sanctioned by the Maharashtra government in 1979.

BKC is India's costliest commercial district

According to MMRDA officials, more than two lakh people work in BKC and over 25,000 vehicles enter and exit the complex every day.

BKC is broadly divided into several blocks - A, E and G. As of now, MMRDA has permitted 31 commercial office buildings and 12 residential buildings in E Block and 70 commercial office buildings, 15 residential buildings followed by 14 buildings including hospitals and schools in G Block.

BKC is home to the Asian Heart Hospital and the Dhirubhai Ambani International School. It also houses the Jio Convention Centre and the Jio Mall.

Several government offices including that of MMRDA, GST, Reserve Bank of India, Income Tax Department, Family Court have their premises in BKC. The US consulate is also located in BKC near the Jio Convention Centre. Luxury hotels Sofitel and Trident are also in BKC.

Prominent companies that have their offices in BKC include Jio, Apple, Netflix, Google, Facebook, Amazon, National Stock Exchange, Standard Chartered Bank, WeWork, CISCO, Pfizer, Spotify, Blackstone, according to the list uploaded on MMRDA’s website.

Property prices in BKC

Office premises in BKC command a per sq ft rent of anywhere between ₹500 and ₹550 sq ft. However, several old buildings in BKC charge rentals between ₹250 to ₹300 per sq ft, according to local brokers. In June 2024, a deal was reported in BKC where the per sq ft rent was ₹700, the highest in the area but the rental period was only six months.

Land in BKC cannot be purchased in the open market. It is leased by MMRDA, the special planning authority of BKC through a tendering process. In 2023, MMRDA had put around 1.41 lakh sq ft of land on lease at a reserve price of more than ₹2,900 crore.

As far as residential properties are concerned, the per sq ft price of luxury apartments in BKC is around ₹70,000 to ₹90,000 depending on the project. However, old buildings or those located outside BKC are available in the range of ₹40,000 to ₹50,000 per sq ft.

A luxury 5 BHK apartment in the area can command a monthly rent of ₹15 lakh and above, local brokers said, adding a 1 BHK located outside BKC can be available on rent for ₹50,000 and a 3BHK for ₹3 lakh depending on the project.

Also Read: Anant Ambani, Radhika Merchant wedding live updates: Wedding costs family ₹5000 cr, just 0.5% of their net worth

Going forward

The MMRDA in 2018 had in an internal report said that BKC will reach its saturation point in the next decade. Hence, there is a requirement of a third commercial business district (CBD) to meet the demand.

The MMRDA had said that it plans to convert a land parcel housing the Wadala Truck Terminal (WTT) into Mumbai's third CBD. MMRDA is the planning agency for these 122 hectares.

A senior executive with an international property consultant said, “The Metro-3 corridor that is expected to become operational in the next few months, the Mumbai Coastal Road, and redevelopment of old commercial buildings in south Mumbai will lead to huge demand for commercial spaces.”

“However, this will take more than 10 years and till then we may expect MMRDA to lease more land from what is available. This will ensure creation of commercial spaces until the south Mumbai market is ready to welcome offices,” the person added.

This article was originally published on Hindustan Times on Jul 12, 2024.