Aavaas

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Mukesh Ambani’s new house – Antilla

Posted by Williams on November 4, 2007

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Thought it will be interesting to cover the house being constructed in Mumbai’s Altamount Road by the world’s richest man – Mukesh Ambani. Yep, he’s officially the richest now with the skyrocketing share prices of RIL.

Mukesh Ambani residence

The house (called Antilla) is being valued at Rupees 4000 crores and will be 173 metres tall. Normally that is the equivalent of a 60 storeyed tower, but in this case each floor is more than twice the height of a normal floor, with the result that the building will only have 27 floors when completed. Given the prevailing state of skyscrapers in Mumbai, this building will be more than twice as tall as the earlier tallest buiilding. The view from the top will be breathtaking, no doubt.

Some other absurd facts about this ‘house’..

  1. 3 helipads on top. Mumbai corporation has not given permission for making this operational yet.
  2. Hanging gardens within the structure
  3. Swimming pool within the structure
  4. A two storey Health centre
  5. Parking space for 168 cars (6 floors). I initially thought that meant there will be a mini office in the building but apparently that is not the case. All these cars will belong to Mukesh Ambani! Just in case you are interested, he drives a 5 crore Maybach now.
  6. A floor exclusively for servicing these automobiles within the building.
  7. A floor for Home theatre – sitting capacity of 50

Most absurd of all, the house will have a staff of 600 (sic) to do the maintenance activities. That gives a ratio of 1:100 for people living in the house and those who are paid to take care of it. The six lucky (?) ones are the man himself, his wife, his 3 children and his mother Kokilaben. The family will be moving in from their old home ‘Sea Wind’ which was a 14 floor building at Cuffe Parade.

In fairness, Mukesh bought the property in 2002. So he has not spent anywhere close to the $1 billion people are now valuing the property at. And it is not just him, plenty of other rich tycoons have indulged in their residences. Two people who immediately come to mind are Mittal & Gates.

UK-based steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal (he is still an Indian citizen though) bought the most expensive house in London last year, paying £60m for a place in Kensington Palace Gardens.Microsoft founder Bill Gates had his house built as technology showpiece several years back. The house is reputed to have cost upwards of $100 million. I will write about this particular property sometime in the future. It is much more interesting than the Ambani house, because Gates tried to implement many new, yet to be proven technologies in his blueprint.


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15 Responses to “Mukesh Ambani’s new house – Antilla”

  1. trakin said

    Isn’t that ridiculous..agreed, he is the richest man in the world, but this is sheer waste of riches !
    Off course thats not what Mukesh Ambani thinks :)

  2. Karthik said

    I am sorry, but i don’t think Mukesh Ambani is he richest man in the world yet. I think the position is still held by Carlos Slim followed by Gates and then Mukesh. Though Irrelevant to the post, i thought Id correct what i think is a mistake. Reliance itself says that people claiming mukesh as richest miscalculated the riches!!

  3. Williams said

    Thanks Karthik

    You are correct. Apparently there is a personal denial from Mukesh as well. Giving the link here
    http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3127336.ece
    Note that he claims his wealth is only 25 billion pounds. It needs to be only 30 billion pounds to overtake Gates. Bound to happen in the next few months,the way Sensex is behaving…

  4. Williams said

    Karthik..
    You are correct. Thanks.
    http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3127336.ece
    Mukesh has issues a personal denial saying that he is not worth so much. Apparently he says his wealth is at 25 billion pounds and he needs 30 billion pounds to overtake Gates. That is bound to happen sooner or later with the India story kicking in for good – Rupee appreciation, stock market valuations, growth in the business, etc are all strong.
    But let’s not forget. Premji had also made it to the top 5 richest people in the world a while back, but could not maintain the ranking as the stock prices of Wipro fell afterwards…

  5. Karthik said

    It would be amazing to find out the details of the construction materials used, the choice of decor,…etc. Meanwhile what’s Anil upto ??

  6. Sudarsan said

    Though this building does not have a visual appeal for $1 billion spent, its unique architecture will make people look at it…..I personally think Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Shah Jahan and Kings of Rajasthan have spent their money better.

  7. Williams said

    Sudarsan,
    Agree with you on the building’s visibility. However, I am not sure that in this case it is such a good thing. So many eyeballs looking up at the house cannot really be good for the residents. This is the natural extreme of the local superstition that one should not build a house right infront of a road (different from building on the road side) as it is bad luck (too many people stare at the house, you see :) ). Earlier I thought the custom was ridiculous, but now I think I understand why it arose in the first place. Extremes have a way of clarifying things…
    All the best wishes to the family though. Hope they build a wonderful home..

    Karthik,
    Decor etc. is not yet known as the building itself will take several more months for completion. Am sure Anil will have something up his sleeve as well after this. Let’s wait & watch :)

  8. Williams said

    To add to the above comment, I don’t think Mukesh has spent anywhere close to $1 billion. He has incurred only the construction cost and besides, he bought the property in 2002 when the real estate prices were much lower.

    $1 billion is the value the house will have in the market if it were to be sold now (imagining it is already finished). That’s another interesting thing, there is no one else in the world who can afford to buy the building…

  9. krishashok said

    Read this
    http://www.selectiveamnesia.org/2007/10/31/mukesh-ambanis-house/

  10. Williams said

    Thanks for the link Krisashok..

    Reminds me of the quote frequently mis-attributed to Voltaire, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

    Substitute ‘do’ in place of ’say’ and that sums up your view, I take it. I find myself in agreement, but only for the most part. The lines one draw in this are ever so blurry that no view will find everyone’s consent, which leads me to another quote, genuine one this time from Voltaire. “To hold a pen is to be at war.”

    :)

  11. Anonymous said

    cool

  12. [...] people are saying ? Anonymous on Mukesh Ambani’s new hous…Recent Posts Aavaa… on Internet at homeKarthik on Knives – kitchen accessories…Vivek on [...]

  13. Anonymous said

    rich people achieve success and enjoy while all others comment
    from herin

  14. Karthik said

    Rich aren’t always succesfull and vice-versa.

    What we can always do though, is learn from them.

  15. [...] Mukesh Ambani’s new house – Antilla [...]

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