Protima Misra grew up in a joint family and she always longed to go back to those childhood days.

The primary impediment to realising the dream: she didn’t own a house. The PWC executive, however, owns two apartments.

Protima then chanced upon a soft launch brochure of a row house project on the southern fringes of the city. She soon approached the builder to book one.

“It fulfilled my dream to own a house and yet live in a gated community with all its facilities,” Misra said.

Misra was in good company because the 125 units in the project — Nirvana on EM Bypass Extension — were sold out within two months of the launch. Enthused by the response, the developer is already into the second phase, which will go on sale in March.

“I believe there was a vacuum in the market. People aspire to have a nijer bari (own bungalow), instead of an apartment. So, instead of building highrises, we have decided to come up with row houses,” said Pawan Agarwal, a director of Srijan Realty, which developed Nirvana.

Nirvana’s success has encouraged at least three more developers in Calcutta to come up with exclusive row house projects or modify existing ones.

Sidharth Pansari, the director of Primarc, said he would come up with row houses adjacent to Southwinds, a highrise complex coming up, on EM Bypass Extension.

“Row houses are increasingly becoming popular. It is a differentiated product. Supply is limited and hence, sale is faster. In a sluggish market, it is a good bet,” Pansari explained the draw for a developer.

The row houses in the market are priced Rs 55 lakh onwards for a 3BHK unit. The built-up area of a house starts from 1,500sqft and includes a garage, a kitchen, a hall, a terrace and a small green patch.

“Bungalow will always allure Calcuttans. But there is a lot of hardship involved in building a house, which turns away many hopefuls. But now a bunch of reputable developers is coming up with structured projects after many years,” said Sanjay Jain, the managing director of Siddha.

His 130-unit row housing project, on the Bypass Extension, is in the market. It is attached to a highrise under construction, Siddha Suburbia.

Like the Bypass Extension, Joka, too, offers the expanse to build row houses. Gems City has carved out a part of their project near the upcoming Joka Metro station for row houses.

Agarwal, of Srijan Realty, said his company’s marketing arm, NK Realtor, had already sold 110 of the 150 units of Gems City.

“The Gems Group is launching an exclusive villa project on a 30-acre plot soon,” Agarwal said.

Demand for gated row houses can be gauged by buyers’ interest in Ideal Villas in Rajarhat, one of the few completed projects. “I have been looking to buy one (in Ideal Villas) but there aren’t any sellers,” said restaurateur Shiladitya Choudhury.

Even as most of the buyers are looking at row houses as a weekend retreat, people like Misra wants to move in permanently. “The areas are a little far from the city. The government should create appropriate infrastructure,” she said.

ROW HOUSES

Nirvana – 300 units (phases)

Sidhha Suburbia – 130 units

Gem City – 750 units *

Primarc – 140 units

Two locations, multiple phases