Among the bevy of billionaires who attended the inauguration and the pre-inaugural events of Donald Trump as he retook office as US President, his chief Indian business partner, Kalpesh Mehta, the founder and managing director of Tribeca Developers, was front and centre, as a close friend of the Trump family.
Mehta was present at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida in the week before the inauguration and was also at Trump's golf club and resort outside Washington DC, which hosted a large celebration on January 19, a day before Trump was officially inaugurated.
As the exclusive licence holder of the Trump brand in India, Tribeca has firmed up around four to five opportunities for Trump Towers in India, aiming to add new properties in Mumbai, National Capital Region, Hyderabad, and Pune. Additionally, the company is developing Trump Tower projects in Gurugram and Kolkata, in joint development models.
The Gurugram project is being developed in collaboration with the M3M group, helmed by Pankaj Bansal, who was also present at the festivities.
Tribeca has licensed the Trump brand to other developers, namely Macrotech Developers, run by Abhishek Lodha, and the Pune-based developer Panchshil Realty, owned by businessman Atul Chordia. The resulting Trump Towers in Mumbai and Pune have been recognised as sought-after real estate for non-resident Indians and high networth individuals.
Mehta, who is also the founder of co-living firm Housr, is close friends with Donald Trump's elder son, Donald Jr, who runs The Trump Organisation with his brother Eric as executive vice presidents. Mehta and Donald Jr studied together at The Wharton School, the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, where multiple members of the Trump family, including Donald Trump himself, and his eldest daughter Ivanka, studied as well.
Mehta was not the only figure from India's real estate industry in attendance at Trump's inauguration events. M3M's Pankaj Bansal also posted pictures with members of the Trump family.
M3M's primary market is the National Capital Region (NCR) and is known for its delivered and ongoing residential and office projects in Gurugram's Golf Course Road area.
It also has projects in Gurugram, Noida, and Panipat.
The Pune connection
Besides Mehta and Bansal, Ashish Jain, who heads his family's real estate venture, the Pune-based firm Kundan Spaces, was also a part of the Trump pre-inauguration events. Kundan Spaces has delivered residential projects in most parts of Pune, and has three ongoing projects, across affordable-to-premium ticket sizes.
Other than real estate, Jain's Kundan Spaces also has interests in warehousing space as well as jewellery, according to the company's website.
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