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Real Estate Tourism ­ a unique investment concept in Bangalore

Sun City, Bangalore, is an ingeniously conceived luxury resort hotel complex comprising villas/cottages that will be individually sold to investors ­ with the option of leasing them out to the hotel. The project, a one-of-its-kind in India, is planned to the specific requirements of foreign residents looking for a secure, well appointed and maintenance-free place to stay during their visits to Bangalore.

The uniqueness of Sun City is that it will not only meet these requirements but it will maintain villas/cottages free of cost and earn returns for the investor as well. This will be achieved by popularizing Sun City as an exotic, completely self-contained tourist destination, a convenient business hotel and a state-of-the-art convention centre. To this end a comprehensive range of amenities and tourist attractions have been provided on its lushly landscaped acres. These include restaurants and a multi-cuisine food court, convention hall, business, sports and health facilities, a water park, a heritage village, shopping etc.

With a six-lane highway connecting it to Bangalore, Sun City is less than an hour¹s drive from the city, and just 10 minutes away from Bangalore¹s new International Airport. It is, as well, en route to Puttaparthy, the world famous Satya Sai Baba pilgrimage centre, and a bare five minutes from the largest Jain temple in Bangalore. Since the property is in an area identified for high development - the proposed Computer Hardware Park and the Biotech Park are located in the vicinity - it will enjoy a steady appreciation in value. Also with the inflow of foreign investments into Bangalore property prices in the area are already appreciating. These, and other factors ensure the investor a secure, high-returns investment opportunity in the most high-potential area in Southern India.

The way Sun City is designed is that an investor buys into the resort by owning a luxuriously appointed, fully furnished cottage or villa, each on a separate plot of land within a protected and gated property. A range of accommodation is on offer - single and two bedroom cottages and three and four bedroom villas. The hotel will lease this from the owner for an agreed portion of the year, maintaining it free of cost, while the owner reserves the right of occupancy for the rest of year at no rental cost. The owner can also opt for exclusive use of the cottage/villa, in which case only maintenance costs will be incurred. Further, the owner is at liberty to sell out at an appreciated market price at any time. For the use of their property the hotel will share 35% of the rental revenues with individual owners. This scheme reduces the cost of the project for the hotel, making it not only economically viable for the promoters but also enabling them to give investors a steady return on an investment that will also appreciate in value. It is specially tailored to foreign residents as it takes care of security, maintenance and issues of tenancy rights etc, during their absence.

To facilitate the repatriation of revenues and to distribute the rental revenue fairly among the owners of the cottages/villas, a maintenance company has been formed on their behalf. This will enter into an agreement with the hotel management company. All the owners will contribute towards equity share capital in the maintenance company in proportion to the value of their holdings. After deducting nominal infrastructure expenses from the 35% in rental revenues the maintenance company receives from the hotel, the balance will be distributed as dividend among the shareholders in the ratio of their holdings. This dividend income is non-taxable and can be fully repatriated.

When property is sold, the owner shall also sell the shares held in the maintenance company. The sale proceeds of shares, including profits, can be repatriated while the proceeds of sales of the cottage/villa can be repatriated to the extent of the original investment. The return on investment is expected to be a minimum of 15% per annum on the basis of 40% occupancy.

Sun City is an ideal choice of location for the tourist as well as the business traveller. Surrounded by picturesque country, it has the famous Nandi Hills range in the foreground. There is too its proximity to Bangalore ­ named the fastest growing city in India, indeed in Asia.

At different points of time Bangalore has been called The Garden City and The Electronic City and The Silicon Valley of India. Its vibrant, progressive and cosmopolitan profile has attracted ­ and continues to attract ­ investors and businesspeople. After independence the country¹s key public sector industries were founded in Bangalore, followed by premium electronic industries. In the past two decades it has become the centre for information technology in India. Then, because of its wonderful climate, its liberal attitude and its proximity to historic sites and important religious centres, it has long been a popular tourist destination. It is here, in Whitefield, (en route to Sun City) that the world-renowned religious figure, Satya Sai Baba has his retreat. As mentioned before, Sun City is just a few kilometres away from the most important Jain shrine in the area for members of the wealthy Jain sect. Situated on NH7 that goes to Hyderabad, it will be on the map  with Puttaparthy, the city of Satya Sai Baba visited by millions of his followers from all over the world. Because of the growth boom in Bangalore several infrastructural projects are under way in and around the city ­ a Mass Rapid Transit System, ring roads and flyovers, the Bidadi Power Project and the new state-of-the-art International Airport...

Sun City has been promoted by Euroamer Garuda Resorts (India) Pvt Ltd, a joint venture company of Euroamer Holdings SGPS and Garuda Builders Pvt Ltd. Euroamer is a mega-company involved in infrastructure, tourism, information technology, shopping complex development all over the world. The head office is in Lisbon, Portugal, and an Indian operating office in Bangalore, India.

 

Euroamer is headed by Mr Frank Carlucci, a former Defence Secretary of the United States of America, and head of the Carlisle Group, a large US business group. The directors include Mr Sherman Lewis, the CEO of Lehman Brothers, Mr Fred Melek, Director of North West Airlines and Chairman of Thayer Partners,  Mr Artur Albarran who developed commercial and residential projects in Portugal, Spain, Angola and Mozambique, Mr Jack Kemp who was a Vice-Presidential candidate, Mr Tony Coehlo, Campaign Director for Mr Al Gore, Mr Terence McAuliff, head fund raiser for the Democratic Party. The Indian partner Mr Uday B Garudachar of Garuda Builders Pvt Ltd, is a respected name in the Indian real estate business. An engineering graduate from Bangalore University, he has been in the building industry for over a decade.  

Garuda Builders Pvt Ltd is a pioneer housing development organization specializing in land acquisition and conversion, plan sanctions and project promotion. Committed to promoting sites/plots and building quality residential buildings in Bangalore, it has several projects to its credit. Garuda Dhama is a 230 acre residential layout for the Karnataka Electricity Board employees. Garuda Udyan is 150 acre gated community housing for Ashok Leyland. Garuda City is a 120 acre luxury housing development for non-resident Indians and Garuda MD is a 65 acre project for the Karnataka Grain Merchants.

Sun City¹s building contractors, Larsen and Toubro is the largest construction company in India, with more than five decades of valuable experience and expertise in executing large ³turnkey² construction projects in India and abroad. It provides a comprehensive range of services in Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, HVAC, Fire Fighting fields and have an in-house engineering design department and a research consultancy that offer architectural and structural design services. Larsen and Toubro undertakes every kind of construction ­ commercial and residential complexes, factories, steel plants, oil refineries, bridges, tunnels, telecommunication towers, roadsŠIts building projects (to name a few) include the ICICI Corporate Office, Mumbai; the Wipro Software Centre, Bangalore; the Usha Mullapudi Cardiac Centre Hyderabad; The Saint Gobain Glass Factory, Chennai; the Maruti Udyog Factory, New Delhi; The Frigerio Conserva Allana Food Processing Plant, West Bengal;Kenwood Hotel, Mumbai;Tidel IT Park, Chennai; South City Residential township of 2360 apartments, Bangalore.

With its steady (and often dramatically sharp) appreciation, real estate in India makes a gilt-edged investment. In recent times this has been a definite trend ­ as witnessed in the number of investors, including foreign businesspeople, buying into land and buildings in different parts of the country. Southern India, with its history of peace and prosperity, its cultural traditions and strong emphasis on education and industrialisation, and now with its lead in Information Technology, is where the bulk of high technology development in India is expected to occur. Sun City, with its unique locational and infrastructural advantages, and its original investment solution of buy, enjoy, earn, of, that is, assured and continued returns on property that can be enjoyed by the investor even as its value appreciates, is poised to make waves in the exciting world of real estate.  
K C Ajith: Garuda Builders Pvt.Ltd. Bangalore

Sun City: An Opportunity Not To Be Missed!

All materials © 2001 Euroamer Garuda Resorts