Review: Marg Tapovan Rs 1 crore luxury villas

2020 update: Do not know the latest on this project. Exercise caution.

Not sure if I’ll ever buy a villa priced at Rs One Crore, but during the recently concluded Cerebrate event I stayed for a few days at one such facility, called Tapovan, built and marketed by Marg ProperTies. This post is a quick review of the Marg Tapovan campus

Marg Tapovan is a 70 acre campus in Pavanjur, a village 20kms off Kalpakkam on East Coast Road, Chennai. Tapovan hosts a series of villas- few are ready and sold, some are under construction and rest are yet to be built. Each Villa is built on a half an acre plot. As far as the building construction is concerned, I found it very simple, but spacious. Each Villa has 2 buildings-one containing a living room, kitchen and a small room and the other one housing 3 bed rooms. Back of the villa houses two tiny rooms-one is servant room and another one housing machines like pumps (for water tank and swimming pool) and electric meters and so on)

The one you see in below images-with swimming pool, is the most expensive one of the lot, costing close to 1 Crore.

These villas are not meant for cost conscious middle class buyers, but targeted at CxOs and HNIs (high net worth Individuals) who might be looking for their second or third home away from the city. Its not the building one pays for, but the ecosystem which includes serene environment, gardens, company of rich neighbours and probably status symbol of owning such a property.

At this point of time spending 1 Crore for a house 80km from city might seem expensive, but for those looking for 10-15 year horizon, this might some like a good investment. I’m told close to one third of the villas are sold already. Villa owners will also have to pay a monthly maintenance fee of Rs 9000, irrespective of usage.

A few observations: There’s no terrace or first floor, so the bungalow like feeling is missing. (Also from utility perspective terrace offers lot of space) Swimming pool looks nice on photograph, but eats up most of the open space. Villa design has been extremely simple. Those who’ve seen much grander homes (say at least in movies), may have higher expectations as to how their dream Villa should be. Unfortunately there’s no provision to customize the a villa that is under construction (customization would spoil the beauty of uniformity). Also there's no Garage for car parking near the villas.


I was talking with Arun Kumar, the manager of the property. He said right now most of the time campus is deserted as no one has started living here yet. Occasionally some corporate events happen and the venue and during such time he and his team will be on their toes all the time. “We enjoy such days”-he said. He was always a call away whenever anyone needed something.

Part of the campus is fully developed, lush green with coconut groove, mango, Sapota and guava gardens while rest of the campus is under development. The Gardens are leased to outside contractors.

Campus has a in house cook, lot of birds, (including turkey and ducks roaming around freely) Residents might be expected not to use their cars inside the campus but use electric vehicles instead. More facilities and features would come up over a period of time as people start residing in the campus.

Lot of Guava fruits were ready for consumption, while Sapota and Mango trees should be giving ripe fruits soon.

Marg will be linking Tapovan to Swarnabhoomi, a SEZ being developed by Marg which will house industries, residential complex as well as schools and other facilities (integrated townships). Once linked Tapovan will be 8kms from Swarnabhoomi, compared to current distance of some 30kms and can be pitched in as an ideal residence for CxOs of companies operating in Swarnabhoomi.

I'm told electric vehicles will be available for movements within Tapovan (and your car may not be allowed till the Bungalow) The access road to Tapovan has several bad patches, filing to sustain the nice driving experience one would have had on ECR. There’re plans to extend Local Trains (MMTS) towards Pondy and that can be a nice boost to Tapovan.

March 2011 updates: It appears Marg has revamped Tapovan plans. Current walkthrough video on their website is different from what it was earlier. Do check with Marg for current plans and schemes.

May 2012 update: At present Marg website states that prices start from  85 lakhs onwards

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