Chennai
Mount Road holds a lot of potential to attract commercial brands and with a few hurdles removed, it can reinvent itself for today’s times.
Mount Road holds a lot of potential to attract commercial brands and with a few hurdles removed, it can reinvent itself for today’s times.
Reinventing older places can lend it a new charm. In New Delhi, Connaught Place is an important business hub but by the turn of the 20th century, it needed a facelift to attract shoppers and retail players. The New Delhi Municipal Corporation carried out a renovation project that began in 2008 to give a facelift to Connaught Place.
Many years down the line, the change is remarkable. While the renovation has drawn several brands, the area has become more streamlined with LED vacancy display boards to sort out parking issues and also has a free wi-fi zone. While Mount Road is too vast a stretch, systematic work can breathe a fresh lease of life into this area.
T Chitty Babu, chairman and CEO, Akshaya, says that Mount Road holds a lot of potential. “We have been working towards the conversion of Mount road into a new hub of business. If you talk about infrastructure, the stretch is incomparable. There are large parcels of land and the connectivity, electricity and sewage systems are all in place. The connectivity via public transport is excellent in this area and with the opening up of the metro, it will be all the more accessible,” he says.
There are a few concerns that stop new-age retail brands and restaurants from moving to this part of the city. “On Mount Road, many areas like Richie Street or Whites Road are home to electronics and hardware businesses, and the businessmen w ho run them are not among the eating out crowd. The restaurateurs will expect a steady flow of customers when they open a high end outlet,” says Arasu Dennis, a consultant for F&B brands.
“Also, in the melee of metro work, the quality brands can get lost. For a food and beverage business to thrive, it has to be supported by commercial establishments, residential market , hotels and malls. It’s not that there aren’t upscale eating joints nearby. One can find them in Express Avenue, Pantheon Road or even on Greams Road. But once the metro work is completed and traffic eases out, many new brands will be willing to open shop here” he says.
While the completion of the metro work will ease out traffic, a few other issues will have to be sorted out before the area can be given a new face. “Many of the older buildings on Anna Salai are strata titled. Since there are numerous owners and lack of any consensus, the associations are not able to push through redevelopment proposals. However, a few leading developers are trying to acquire space here for commercial projects,” says Sarita Hunt, MD Chennai and Coimbatore, JLL.
The biggest disadvantage on Mount Road is lack of ample parking space. “While the British planners did lay down a wonderful road, the buildings that came up along the stretch were not constructed keeping in mind the surge in the number of vehicles. For commercial development to grow strong, parking and toilet facilities have to be factored in. When you come up with a large commercial complex, these facilities should be available. Even a place like Spencer Plaza wasn’t planned with sufficient toilets to meet the footfalls that it got. Even with a prominent outlet like Higginbotham’s parking is an issue,”says T Chitty Babu, who feels that once a few developers start work there, it will soon become a trend.
Anna Salai, is a key arterial road in Chennai. Proximity to the RBI and SBI clearing houses, high court and government establishments makes Anna Salai a preferred location for banking, financial services companies, law firms and corporate offices “The traffic scenario has to be brought under control. Today, if you miss a turn on Mount Road, you will lose 20 minutes taking a diversion and reaching your destination. The signals and platforms also need to be worked upon,” says Arasu.
However, few areas in Chennai can boast of the advantages enjoyed by Anna Salai. Hence it makes business sense to invest time, effort and money in the area. While one option is to redevelop a property to bring in an entirely new structure, there is also the option of restoring the older structures to put them to commercial use. “One can follow the method of adaptive reuse,” s says Dr S Suresh, of INTACH.
“Mount Road has many heritage structures and some of them are not being used due to issues related to litigation. But many of them have been well-maintained by the owners over the years. Chennai has the expertise to put these old structures to meet modern requirements,” he says.
Arjun Narayanan, Times Property, The Times of India, Chennai