Poonawalla to use property sitting on two acres on Arabian Seas as family home.
By Raif Karerat
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An Indian pharmaceutical baron has handed over $113 million to buy a mansion in Mumbai that was once owned by a Maharaja in one of the most expensive home sales in Indian real estate history.
The building, that sits on two acres with a sweeping view of the Arabian Sea, was the U.S. Consulate from 1957 until 2011 when the American diplomats moved into new accommodations.
The U.S. government put the property up for sale immediately afterward, but the building – which has a historic designation — fell by the wayside for nearly half a decade, reported The Washington Post.
The new owner, billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla, said he wants to use the property as a family residence, reported The Times of India.
Poonawalla, 74, is the chairman and managing director of the Serum Institute of India, a pharmaceutical company that makes low-cost vaccines like tetanus and anti-venom for snake bites.
“The negotiations were initiated by my son Adar,” he said.
The property will be used as a family home, but Poonawalla said extensive renovations will have to be carried out first because large sections of the palace were used as office space.
He said it would be difficult to say when the family would move in. “A lot of paperwork needs to be completed first. That may take time.”
Now known as the Lincoln House, the historical building was formerly referred to as the Wankaner House, a palace belonging to the Wankaner Maharaja, Pratapsinhji Jhala Wankaner.
The Maharaja sold the palace to the U.S. Consulate to pay off his taxes after the independence, following the accession of the princely states, according to the Economic Times.
Some of the other residences in Mumbai that have gone for notable exorbitant sums include:
- A sea-facing triplex penthouse measuring 17,000 square feet in South Mumbai’s Napean Sea Road was sold to a prominent industrialist for $30,486,688 earlier this year, according to a report in The Economic Times.
- Last year, the iconic Mehrangir, the house of the father of the nation’s atomic program, Homi Bhabha, in the Malabar Hill area, was sold to the Godrej family for $56,143,802.
- The U.S. consulate sold Washington House on Altamount Road to the Lodha Group in 2012 for $51,588,910, according to the Times of India.
- In 2011, the Maheshwari House was sold for $60,369,680.
The U.S. Embassy and U.S. Consulates in India consist of:
- The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi
Shanti Path, Chanakya Puri 110021 - The U.S. Consulate General in Mumbai (Bombay)
C-49, G-Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai 400051 - The U.S. Consulate General in Chennai (Madras)
220 Anna Salai, Gemini Circle, 600006
- The U.S. Consulate General in Kolkata (Calcutta)
5/1 Ho Chi Minh Sarani, 700071
- The U.S. Consulate General in Hyderabad
Paigah Palace, 1-8-323, Chiran Fort Lane, Begumpet, Secunderabad 500 003.