Capital Towers, Wakad

I must confess as a non professional, I don’t have a method or approach that I take to help me decide on the projects I have to review. Though I visit properties sometimes based on feedbacks or specific requests, most of the times I just let the advertisements and hoardings guide me. I think most of us hunting for their homes do just the same. Having left home with the plan to look at a few projects in Wakad, I was quiet easily led to Capital Towers through their many hoardings and signboards.

The Location

Wakad is one of the areas in Pune seeing rapid development. It comes under the wings of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). Till some time back the area was almost entirely farm lands. Though you can still find a lot of them even now, the picture is changing, and changing fast. The greatest advantage of Wakad is its proximity to the IT Parks and the Mumbai Expressway. It is also well connected to the suburbs of Baner and Pashan through the highway. Connectivity to Pune exists, but it will take you a while to reach Pune City! With work on widening of the roads underway, and multiple routes available, I hope it should make things a lot better in some time.

A lot of development in Wakad had taken place a few years back with few projects springing up in different places. There was also good connectivity with lots of interior roads connecting to different key areas. But, the development was scattered and lacked a planned or concentrated development we see or have seen in places like Pimple Saudagar. This has changed a bit now, though still a long way to go. The closest hospital I guess is the Aditya Birla Hospital, which is one of the best hospitals in Pune. I don’t think there are any good schools around with the closest ones being in Aundh or Baner. It appears that Wakad is also one of the favorite places for buyers from Mumbai, looking for a real estate investment. I can’t think of a reason for this apart from the fact that it is so close to the highway from Mumbai!

Capital Towers is located on the Wakad Tharegaon Road that goes towards Dange Chowk (the first left off the Wakad flyover when going towards Pune) alongside projects like Costa Rica and Mont Vert Seville. Being just off this road, it is connected to roads on either sides to Hinjewadi or Pune and thus is quiet well located.

The Project
 

The project consists of 4 towers of 11 storeys with 5 flats (2 3BHKs and 3 2BHKs) on each floor of each tower. That makes about 220 flats in total. These many flats in a total area of just 2 acres make this a pretty congested project. May be this is what they meant when they called it “a new paradigm in luxury lifestyles!” Bookings are open only or towers A & B and the sales people said that almost 50% of the flats are booked and they do not plan to open booking for the Towers C & D. I have my doubts on the extent of truth here.

Capital Towers is a project by Chandrarang Developers and Builders and ABS Properties. I have not heard anything about both these groups, nor could I find any history of their work except for a project Elite10 in Pimple Gaurav where Chandrarang is a partner. A search on the internet also did not lead to anything. The website mentioned in the brochure (www.capitaltowers.com) belongs to a building in North Carolina!

Construction work is in the early stages with work currently on the plinth levels. They have stated a possession of September 2011, which I feel can be called more of a dream than optimism. A dream not for the builders, because they know it is not possible, but for those who are dreaming to have their home in there. It is a not too many frills project with just a podium level garden and a small pool for children. The space on the terrace has been reserved for additional garden and community hall which is nice but it needs to be seen if this does turn into reality.

The Flats

The project offers compact 2 and 3 BHK flats with saleable areas of 1023-1097 sq. ft. and 1253-1283 sq. ft. respectively. The sample available was of a 2BHK and I was pretty impressed with the layout. Both the bedrooms are master bedrooms with attached bath. This could be a good point as well as a negative point because it does not have a common bathroom. They have spacious terraces attached to the drawing / dining room and one of the bedrooms. Unlike the standard layout, with L shaped living rooms and bedrooms at the end of a passage, here the 2 bedrooms are on either side of the drawing room, which I found to be nice. The dry balcony was very spacious and I’m sure women would like this! The 3 BHK flats would have the luxury of facing 2 directions while the 2 BHKs are facing just one direction. The specifications are standard and the quality of materials used in the sample flat (or promised) is of good grade.

The Cost

The cost sheet quoted a rate of Rs. 3200 psf. The all inclusive cost of the 2BHK comes to about 38 lacs and the 3BHK about 45 lacs. When I said my budget was just 35 lacs, they said that it should be possible for them to offer me something within my budget. Such easy willingness only makes you wonder how much room is available for negotiation on price! They told me that the project is approved by all major banks and they would assist me in getting a home loan from the bank of my choice.

My Take

Capital Towers is well located in a place in Wakad which connects well to other parts of the city. The layout inside the flats is good and fits well into a comfort budget home. But, that’s where the good things about the project end. The project is by I don’t know who. The building is cramped up into a place which should only hold something half its size. You definitely need to check the FSI usage here. The construction has just begun and I don’t know how reliable the builders are that they would complete the project and even if they do, I don’t know if I’ll get what was promised. To put my hard earned money into it, I would wait till September 2011.. the time they promised possession!!