The promoters of Magma Fincorp, the city-based NBFC, are getting back to real estate.

Celica Developers, a major shareholder of Magma, has lined up at least three projects in and around Calcutta straddling residential, commercial and logistic segments.

The first-off-the-block will be a high-end residential tower on Dover Road, a few yards away from Ballygunj Circular Road, where a 12 storied structure (apart from basement and garage) will come up in the next 12-18 months.

Already halfway into the construction, the 18 cottah plot is going to have a G+4 bungalow too.

Each unit, measuring around 2,300 square foot, will cost around Rs 4 crore.

When completed, it would be the first real estate venture from Magma co-promoter Mayank Poddar’s family in more than three decades.

Between 1960-80s, they built around half a million square foot of commercial and retail space on Park Street, the sunset boulevard of Calcutta.

Comprising five buildings stretching between Middleton Row on the west and Camac Street on the east, the properties are home to some of the city’s well known casual and fine dining addresses, cafes and automobile showroom. It also houses Magma’s registered office apart from a host of other offices.

A clean slate Is this the right time to make a comeback, especially when the real estate is reeling under the shock of Covid-19?

Adarsh Tulshan, the managing director of Celica Group, believes that not having a baggage of unsold inventory like any other realtor could be a plus.

“Starting with a clean slate with no loan to service will give us a headroom. We believe if a project is designed keeping in mind what a buyer wants, it should work,” Tulshan, son-in-law of Poddar, said.

While the ticket size of the Ballygunj property will cast the net wider for buyers than some of the competing ones which offer bigger but more expensive units, a mass housing at Konnagar on the bank of the Hooghly will be priced to allow customers to take the benefit of a centrally sponsored home loan interest subvention scheme.

Branded as Celica Residency, the 2.74 acre plot will have 4.5 lakh sq ft of built up space, having 450-odd units and a bit of retail.

The company also plans to build a logistic hub on a 12-acre plot at Dankuni, where around 300,000 sq ft of leasable area will be built. Celica has had an initial dialogue with a few of the logistic park operators to co-develop the project.

“Our plan is to have a bouquet of projects having a presence in different price points and usage,” Tulshan said, adding that Celica is also scouting for plots in the central business district of Calcutta.