KOCHI: For years, Navas Meeran was greeted by a disturbing sight every time he entered his office on the eighth floor of a building near Edappally. “It was an unfinished apartment complex,” recalled the chairman of Meeran Group, which was mostly into masala powders back then.
Meeran was aware of the apartment’s tragic story. The tale of ‘Apple a Day Properties’ apartment complex in Palarivattom, which was launched in 2006 and whose builders vanished after collecting around Rs 37 crore from about 224 investors in 2010, was well known.
Meeran decided to act. Thus, ‘Nanma Properties’ was born in 2012. The firm, whose philosophy matches its name ‘Nanma’ – Malayalam for goodness – had one aim: Revive stalled realty projects in Kerala. “Reviving and completing stalled housing projects is not easy. There’s pain involved – of people who invested into a project only to see the builders vanish with all their hard-earned money,” said Asheen Panakkat, MD of Nanma Properties.
The firm chose ‘Apple a Day Properties’ as its first project. And the hurdles followed. Rechristened ‘Phoenix’ to signify the project’s birth from ashes after Nanma takeover, the project was completed 10 years after the two-year deadline promised by the first builders. Court cases and negotiations with the ‘Big Apple Buyers Association’ left a bad taste in Nanma’s mouth.
Still it continued and completed the 240-apartment project in 18 months. Since then, Nanma Properties has acquired and completed eight stalled residential projects in the state. They include ‘Rain Tree Heights’ of SI Properties in Kozhikode, Manjooran Housing’s Scarlet (126 apartments in seven months) and Mather’s Hacienda (79 apartments in eight months) in Aluva.
At present, Nanma Properties is busy with its first project, One Cochin, a luxury condominium at the heart of Kochi. The project is being developed on 4.78 acres on Silver Sand Island, close to the bustling Vyttila Junction.
Panakkat said reviving stalled projects is a thankless job as there are umpteen complications like violations in land acquisition, Coastal Regulation Zone issues and others. “Taking these things up with officers and the bureaucracy is a big task in itself,” he said, adding that revenue from the finished buildings does not match the humongous leg-work and negotiations involved.
“Frankly, it’s not worth the effort,” said Panakkat. However, Meeran has taken it up as the company’s mission to revive stalled projects, he said. “It’s my ticket to heaven,” joked Meeran.