CHENNAI: The iconic Adyar Gate hotel in the tony Boat Club area may soon make way for a high rise of premium residences.
Property developer Ceebros is finalising a redevelopment agreement with the Goyals, the family that owns the Adyar Gate Hotels Limited (AGHL). The 286-room hotel was a landmark 5-star property since its inauguration in the 1970s. It was later run by ITC as Park Sheraton Hotels & Towers for years and then became the Crowne Plaza, but was always known by its first name.
"Only the nitty gritty of the commercial agreement needs to be finalised. For Ceebros, Crowne Plaza will be the third hotel property it is acquiring, after the Atlantic Hotel in Egmore and Viceroy in MRC Nagar. Ceebros had razed both those properties and built residential towers," multiple sources said.
Ceebros' managing director C Subba Reddy told TOI that "talks are on", while declining to reveal any further details. The property was originally owned by industrialist T T Vasu's family, who later sold it to the Goyals.
Promoters owe the civic body Rs 42 cr as property tax
Industry sources said, "While AGHL was already going through a troubled phase, the Covid pandemic hastened the trouble. Despite opting for a moratorium on repayments during the pandemic, the liquidity crunch hit the group hard."
The promoters owe Greater Chennai Corporation around ₹42 crore as property tax. The civic body had even had conducted a "drum beat" in front of the hotel to highlight the tax arrears.
Vinish Goyal, director, Crowne Plaza and Intercontinental Hotels, Chennai, said, "I do not know who is spreading such rumours? We have settled all property tax dues to the authorities."
According to property consultants, Ceebros did well redeveloping the Atlantic and the Viceroy. Even though the MRC redevelopment '174' ran into commercial trouble for a while, now apartments are not available for resale even at rates in excess of Rs 20,000 per sq ft.
"With Ceebros already owning and operating two business hotels under the brand name 'Rain Tree' on Anna Salai and St Mary's Road, the company is unlikely to retain Crowne Plaza as a hotel," a property consultant, who did not want to be named, said. "Given the proximity of the Crowne Plaza property to the upmarket Boat Club, where residential apartment prices are around ₹30,000 per sq ft, residential property will easily fetch ₹25,000 per sq ft here," the consultant added.
The Goyals own two other hotel properties through AGHL, the 67-room Fortune Sullivan in Ooty and the 106-room Intercontinental Chennai Mahabalipuram Resort, besides the 2.5 lakh sq ft Sai Real Tech Park on the Taramani-Velachery road.
