Pune`s closed factories become a real estate play

Rise in prices is tempting cos to convert factory land into realty projects. Pune’s factories may go the Mumbai mill-land way. The rise in real estate prices is tempting companies to convert their factory premises into real estate projects in the Pimpri-Chinchwad area, 20-odd km west of Pune, one of the country’s largest automobile hubs and a big centre for the IT industry. Driven by an eight- to ten-fold increase in land prices in the area in the last two to three years, companies like Raccold Appliances, Greaves Cotton, Elpro International, Garware Nylon and Formica India are converting their factory premises into commercial or residential projects.