Kanakapura Road To Loose Its green Patch

S Kushala kushala.satyanarayana@timesgroup.com 

    One of the oldest surviving green patches on Kanakapura Road off Banashankari temple in Bangalore South will soon get a concrete face. The lush Nilgiri plantation, popularly known in the area as ‘Sarve Topu’, owned by the Khodays, has been transacted for a joint development agreement. 
    The 40-odd acres of plantation, which is part of a former glass factory, is being proposed for mixed use development — residential complex, IT spaces and a high-end mall. The land costs nearly Rs 12 crore per acre. 
    As Bangalore East has reached the saturation point in terms of realty development and Bangalore North towards Devanahalli is getting clogged, developers are now eyeing the Kanakapura Road. 
    The stretch between Sarakki and Talaghattapura connecting the state highway, which was once a village, is the most happening place, thanks to the Namma Metro cutting through the corridor. The adjoining areas, where the real estate prices had hit rock bottom, have woken up after the BMRCL announced and commenced the construction work. 
    The who’s who in the industry — Mantri, Puravankara, Brigade, Sobha, Nagarjuna and the latest entrant, Prestige Estates, are making a beeline to the place. 
    One of the early birds on the stretch were the Khodays, who set up a brewery and glass factory from 1972 onwards. A popular yesteryear watch brand, Hegde and Golay, was the first to set up its factory here. 
    Says Hari Khoday, the senior-most member of Khoday family and managing director of Khoday India Limited, “Prestige is doing a joint development project with us on our property.” 
    The 70-year-old reminisces the days when the area lacked even bus facilities. “When I came here in the 1960s, there were no buses. Farmers got the KSRTC to ply buses to the area. Though the stretch was a village, it woke up during 2005 onwards. We put up our brewery and glass factory after getting the land allotted by the area development board,” he says. 
    Majestic Developers managing director S A Rehman, who has an office at Sarakki Gate on the Kanakapura Road, said during 2002-03, the property price was around Rs 1,000-1,200 per sqft. In the subsequent years, it was around Rs 2,000/sqft. Besides the Metro, the corridor also saw a lot of good schools coming up. 
    “Once the Metro was announced and the road widening work commenced, the property prices shot up. With big realty houses stepping in, the corridor has seen a real boom. Now the prices are in between Rs 3,000-3,850 per sqft,” says Rehman, who has been in the realty industry for a decade.