Chennai:
One of the city's oldest landmarks, the Dasaprakash Hotel, known for its exhilarating dishes and ice creams, will cease to exist and give way to a residential complex.
The Madras High Court had awarded the sale of the prime property near the famous Egmore railway station for Rs 165 crore to reality firm Prince Foundations based on an MoU between the promoters and the company.
Once a popular venue for weddings and a host for prime ministers and politicos, the hotel ran into financial difficulties, resulting in its closure.
Dasaprakash was started by the late K Seetharama Rao in early 1930s as the first in a chain of hotels he set up in Chennai, Mysore, Udagamandalam and elsewhere in south India.
Many leaders such as Nehru, Kamaraj, Annadurai and former US Ambassador to India John Kenneth Galbraith have dined at the hotel and appreciated its quality.
When the hotel industry in India was trying to adapt itself to Western traditions, Rao made his hotels follow contemporary Indian style.
However, financial troubles meant the heirs of the late Rao, K Rama Das, K Balaram Das, K Bhagawan Das and K Narayana Das, decided to close down the landmark hotel and approached the court for finding a solution and settling the dues of the
creditors.
The court appointed an official receiver to examine the case. At the court's directive, the promoters favoured Prince Foundations which had quoted the highest price for the
property.
A division bench of the Madras High Court comprising justice D Murugesan and Justice S Rajendran recently directed that the hotel property at Poonamallee High Road in the city,
on 32 grounds and 541 sq ft and with the staff quarters on 4 grounds and 890 sq ft - in all totalling 36 grounds & 1,431 sq ft - be sold to Prince Foundations for Rs 165 crore.
The company had remitted Rs 20 crore on December 20 following the court directive. The firm's CMD Ashwin Kumar Kamdar said an affidavit has been filed in the High Court
undertaking to pay the balance amount as per Prince Foundation's offer letter dated November 27.
The firm, which hopes to complete the deal in a couple of months, plans to develop a luxury multistoried residential project at the site with about 150 apartments. The total
built-up area would be around 3 lakh sq ft and the total project cost Rs 300 crore.
The project would be completed in two years' time, Prince Foundations said.