Mills turns Malls !!
AS COMMERCIAL and residential realty market is growing at a brisk pace in and around Coimbatore and Tirupur, the land supply is expected to ease in the coming months. Many old and sick textile mills are releasing their lands for promoting residential apartments and commercial complexes. Tirupur-based Dhanalaxmi Mills, a century-old unit with 120 ring frames and 450 looms, recently sold 43 acres of its land to a residential property developer.According to sources, in Tirupur alone, 40 ginning factories are now being converted into shopping complexes, office spaces and apartments. “Ginning units have incurred heavy losses here and are on the verge of facing an en masse closure. Most of these mill owners prefer to sell their land to realty players for a hefty amount,” a knitwear industry source told ET. Ditto is the scene in Coimbatore. The sale of mill properties (private and NTC mills) is expected to release substantial land for development. The defunct Sri Hari Mills is slated to become an IT park while the surplus five-acre land of Shree Rangavilas Mills on the prime Avinashi Road is to become a multiplex. Lakshmi Mills, which closed its Singanallur unit, has also sold its land to a leading residential property developer in the city.
Public sector textile behemoth National Textiles Corporation (NTC) too has been selling its surplus mill lands mainly situated in prime localities in Coimbatore in phases to mobilise funds for its modernisation drive. NTC expects the land sale to bring in more than Rs 100 crore. More than 40 acres of prime mill land belonging to Somasundaram Mills, Kaleeswara Mills and Coimbatore Spinning & Weaving Mills, all located in the city, would be sold through open tender and competitive bidding. According to sources, NTC has sold more than 25 acres in the past few months. In June 2006 alone, it garnered close to Rs 13 crore through the sale of two of its mill lands.
