JP Morgan invests $60m in Indian residential project

Investment bank JP Morgan has invested $60m in a 50-story luxury residential building—in what could be the biggest investment ever made in a Mumbai-based developer.

JP Morgan has reportedly invested $60 million (€45 million) in a Mumbai-based luxury residential property that is currently being developed by Lodha Builders. According to Indian press reports, the investment is the largest ever made in a project built by a Mumbai-based developer.

The project, known as Lodha Bellissimo, is a 50-story luxury apartment complex located in the Mahalaxmi area of Mumbai on 7.5 acres of former mill land acquired from the National Textile Corp. earlier his year. According to Lodha, the project sports 18,800 meters of recreational space. It is expected to be completed by 2009.   

“We are in a phase of aggressive expansion across Western and Southern India, with a focus on premium residential as well as retail and office space projects,” Abhinandan Lodha, finance director at Lodha, told the Times of India. “We are very happy to partner with JP Morgan for one of our premium projects, as this gives us the ability to access resources to fuel our growth plans which will make us amongst the top five real estate developers in the county by 2008.”

Mumbai-focused Lodha has more than 2,000 acres of developable land in the country. It plans to build an 80-acre IT office park and an 800-acre textile special economic zone, both outside of Mumbai. It is also currently developing retail, residential and IT projects. 

“Hospitality will be our next venture,” Lodha told the paper. “And, it will take our presence across all formats including residential, commercial and retail.”