Indiabulls arm suspends work on Mumbai luxury residential proj

Indiabulls Real Estate's arm has suspended work on its luxury residential project called Sky Suites that it was developing in Mumbai's business district of Lower Parel. The project is being set up by Indiabulls Sky Suites, a subsidiary of IBREL arm Indiabulls Properties Investment Trust. The company was forced to suspend work on the project after the Airport Authority of India placed severe height restrictions on the project, asking it to keep the height of the residential tower at 163 metres against 327 metres that the company had asked for. Since the height restriction will limit the total area that can be built, the company is now forced to have a re-look at the revenue model of the project. The IBREL web site promotes Sky Suites as a high-end tower of luxuriously managed private residences.The project site is close to Mahalaxmi Racecourse and near upscale malls and various 5-star hotels. Indiabulls Properties Investment Trust, listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, notified the development on Monday. A BSE notice by IBREL, sent Tuesday, wasn't as detailed. It simply informed the exchange that it had received AAI approval to raise the height of the tower to 163 metres and said it would have a bearing on the project, without clarifying what the impact could be. The Singapore exchange notice said the company would talk to architects, consultants, environmental and municipal authorities to study the impact of the order.