“I believe if you keep your faith, you keep your trust, you keep
the right attitude, if you're grateful, you'll see God open up new doors”… Joel
Osteen.
Joel Scott Osteen is an American preacher and televangelist. He
is the Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church, in Houston, Texas. Osteen's televised
sermons are seen by over 7 million viewers weekly and over 20 million monthly
in over 100 countries. And one might wonder why I used quote by a Pastor when
the subject is redevelopment, well let me tell you the very base of any
redevelopment is trust! The story started when some five years (in late 2011) back one of my x
collogue’s Swati approached me for redevelopment of their society in Patwardhan
Baug , an elite area of Western Pune. I wasn’t having any experience of
redevelopment then, so I was a bit reluctant at first but she insisted that I
should at least have a meeting with the members of the said society, Shreeyash!
So I accepted to meet the members & that’s how my journey of redevelopment
started!
In next month on some weekend most of the members out of twelve
units of Shreeyash came to meet me, they were mostly retired people from LIC,
average age nearing seventy & in first meeting only I told them that they
remembered me my parents which are of nearly same age group. After speaking
with them I clearly put forward that whatever may happens, these people have
come with trust in me & if I fail to stand to their trust then I don’t
deserve to be in the business of real estate as they will lost trust in any
businessman itself! I went through the details they gave to me about the
existing building& assured them I will get back with my offer! Back then
with TDR (transfer of Development
Rights, which makes base for any redevelopment) rates souring & average flat’s
selling rate not all time high like it went later in 2013, I still worked out a fair
offer which was barely matching to their existing area but a new building &
with parking lot as well lifts & all modern amenities. As the present
structure was ground plus two storied, so all the members had to park the cars
on road outside the society. Also as there was no lift to the existing
buildings so most of the members had to face climbing stair case issue which is
a troublesome thing for that age, even it may be first floor occupant! Then,
there was no attached terrace or balcony to any of the flat leave apart drying
balcony type provisions. Another hurdle was the society had combined property
card (ownership document) with two adjoining bungalow unit holders name also on
it as co-owner. And on top of it one of the bungalows FSI has been used in
this building by the then developer adding it to lots of friction between that
bungalow owner & Shreeyash. So it was obvious that those bungalow owners
will be hard to cooperate which was important as without their sign the
proposal won’t move at PMC sanction level. I studied carefully all these &
tried to explain this to the members. One more problem was every time all the
members used to come & when it’s a joint meeting often the discussion used
to go off-track! I told them to formulate committee of three senior members
& they only will coordinate to ease out the things at society front. And
the after this committee understood the hurdle about ownership which needed to
be sort out first we worked out the offer. I gave them offer in writing asked
them to go through with all members along with the new plan & meet again
with their comments on it. I won’t bore you with finer details of what went
after that as there was series of demands especially about the specifications
& they wanted security that I will complete the project, which was bit
annoying for me but yes their concern too was important! I asked them to
appoint their lawyer but at the same time told them two lawyers will never
agree upon one draft, so it’s you & me only who has to finally say yes or
no to some agreement draft!
This was the toughest face & I had to keep my calm to face
some of weirdest questions like why solar water heating can’t be individual
when I was saying it has to be common, for best results & many such. This
sure was a patience test for me & at sometimes I even used to think why I
have accepted this project! But then the innocence in the questions of the
members was genuine & so were their faces & I used to tell myself, think
you are dealing with your parents! So after a marathon series of discussions
finally the plans, the specifications & the agreement draft was finalized.
This has taken nearly six months & the new DP i.e. development plan of PMC
came in the meant time. That gave a big blow to entire process as the road in
front of the society has been widened by nearly 10’ on either side, which means
less plot area to build as well loss of TDR potential as TDR is worked out on
the net plot area. That meant two things, first we will have to change the
building plans & second I will have to look at viability in first place, as
any redevelopment proposal is worked out on TDR utilization only. Obviously
there was loss of salable area for me so I put it clearly in front of the
members as well another hurdle was design the new plans right from beginning.
After new plans sketches we came to know that now height of building is getting
increased to accommodate the FSI available as plot area has been reduced so the
floor plate also got reduced. Another hurdle was the neighboring bungalow
owners weren’t ready to accept road widening & the plans needed to be
signed by them also. Then till we convinced the bungalow owners about road
widening & nobody can do anything about it another blow came via one
circular, Urban Dev or PMC put hold on use of TDR on plot area below
10,000sft. This mean end of Shreeyash redevelopment as our plot area was
8000sft & no TDR means no additional built-up area will be allowed than
that of existing area & then what I will sale & how I will build the
existing building? Again I took the meeting of all the members & told them what
has happened & it required me lots of patience & communication skill to
explain them outcome of all these policies! As I had to look at their gloomy
faces which were silently like asking me, considering our age, can we ever see
our new home coming in existence? I had no courage to meet those eyes yet I
tried my best them to assure them, that all will be well, soon. One silver
lining was there was lots of pressure on UD as well on Hon CM who heads UD for
such illogical circular about use of TDR & CM has said that he will rethink
about this policy. But then in
this country our rulers speaks something; thinks something different & does
something else in practice; all three things are like apex of a triangle which
rarely meets. My problem was
all together different now as I have bought the required TDR by paying full
payment & that burden was mounting on me as well I have promised my sister
that I will make a flat for her there at top floor, so she has sold her
existing flat in nearby vicinity! Once again I cursed myself for touching
redevelopment but then what gave me strength is trust of all the senior members
of Shreeyash & I told myself as well to them also, this is something you
have dreamt for years & even the existing Shreeyash is outcome of your hard
earned money & let’s hope something good only will come out of it! So we
decided to wait instead winding out the project as well I also kept patience
& hold the TDR certificate instead utilizing it somewhere else or selling
it in the market!
Frankly by knowing the way our Govt systems works I knew it
might take years to get any positive outcome on front of policies but only hope
was the illogical way of putting plot size restriction on redevelopment as well
the new DP was in making by virtue of which paid FSI would be available.
Another aspect was its not just Shreeyash, entire redevelopments proposals of
Pune were at stake as most societies are below 10000sft of plot area. So one
fine morning the good news came that plot size restriction has been
removed for utilizing TDR & in very same week we got our plans sanctioned
from PMC! Though the road widening continued but we have changed the plans
accordingly & finally we had something to cheer up. Immediately we took
meeting of all members appealing them to vacate the building & shift as
early as possible. Yes in the meetings only I have promised them to help in
shifting. Here will share a small funny incidence; before shifting one senior
member asked can he keep the MS grills of his enclosed balconies as he has made
that expenditure pretty recently. Before I could reply something another member
intercepted & told that he tried to take down ceiling fans in his flat
before shifting & to his surprise the electrician charged Rs 200 per fan
for removal & the fan isn’t fetching the price of even Rs 100 in resale, so
he has to just give away those ceiling fans to the electrician! After this
sharing nobody wanted to retain anything from the flat & agreed upon
vacating the premise earliest. One thing I did which they realized the
importance later, I insisted all of them to gather with families & had one
group snap in-front of the building! We also made a group of my concerned team
members as well all the Shreeyash members whats-ap group so any issue can be
immediately posted on this group & acted up on.
So finally all families shifted & we started demolition of
the building by doing a small pooja at site. Before starting demolition we
informed to all the neighbors & requested them to keep some patience for
the disturbance the demolition work would cause, mainly noise as well dust. We
used lots of water to sprinkle on the demolition work so as the dust generation
is less & in the bhumipooja function one of the neighbors who himself was
civil engineer does mentioned this & thanked us for minimizing the
disturbance to them. In fifteen days time the building was demolished & we
arranged bhumipooja & that too in the hands of senior most member of
Shreeyash as whom else could have been the better choice for such event! So a
journey of nearly five years got now really in motion though it’s just start of
the work & I hope now the ship of Shreeyash will sail smoothly with every
bodies good wishes. Yes one more thing on the brouture as well on invitation of
bhumipooja even I used the very snap of all Shreeyash members with Shreeyash
old building in background & this gesture has been very much appreciated
not just by the members but even those whom we have sent the invites. I think
this is something I will like to share for all those who want to get in
redevelopment, as a builder as well as members of existing societies!
It’s the smallest of such things like group photograph &
whats-ap group, which matters most as redevelopment is not about just building
new project but it’s about building trusts & trust has to be from both
sides! The
members should choose wisely the developer in first place & let’s remember
best offer may not be the one which gives you more area for your existing one
or best amenities or better package; but the best offer is the commitment
towards the development the developer assures & the respect he gives to the
trust you put in his team! Also some tips for the developers;
the developer should give the offer which is viable, keeping in mind all the
hurdles ahead such as changing policies to market scene as every day game of
real estate is changing. Just lucrative location & costly specifications is
not the thing now which customer looks for. At the same time major hurdle is
polices which keeps on changing & can affect the entire viability, so don’t
walk on tight rope just to get the deal at any cost! Study bye-laws & rules
well & then only work out projects viability. Buy all the required TDR in
advance to full potential as well do ask the members to shift from the existing
building only after the plans get sanctioned as per final drawings! This will
avoid any bitter experience of change in policy which may hamper the project as
well awkward situation causing losses. Because it’s the developer who has to
bare the rental charges of accommodation of the members till the possession of
new building!. Also take members in confidence & be always transparent as
well available to them. Remember it’s not just one deal but
entire societies trust on real estate is what at stake when we are in
redevelopment! In my entire journey of redevelopment I learnt a lot about human
psychology & values & I think that was best outcome of the entire
effort. No wonder when my marketing team asked me what should be the tag line
of Shreeyash on brouture, the only thing came to my mind was, “Redevelopment of
Trust!”
Below is my small speech at bhumipoojan ceremony of Shreeyash,
do go through.
--
--
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)
Sanjeevani Dev.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Please do visit my blogs to know about our philosophy at Sanjeevani ! (Click the links below)
http://jivnachadrushtikon.
Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below
www.punecorporation.org
Think Green, Think Life
www.sanjeevanideve.com
Social Side of Sanjeevani ! (Click link below)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/
For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below
www.punecorporation.org
Think Green, Think Life
www.sanjeevanideve.com
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