Thane-Ghodbunder: From two-lane road to mall street

What was Ghodbunder Road 15 years ago?
It was a two-lane road; today it’s a 14-lane road with seven lanes on each side. Also there is a Metro coming up from Chembur to Kasarwadavali,”

In the late 1990s. During his tenure, a number of illegal structures were demolished and Thane was beautified, roads widened and flyovers built.

The old Thane, comprises mainly around the station and Gokhale Road, with a rich cultural charisma

The “new” Thane—which includes Ghodbunder—is a different beast altogether. The town’s green cover—this was essentially a forest area—has been replaced with concrete, a contrast to “old” Thane with lakes, jogging tracks, gardens, etc.

On the Eastern Express Highway that connects Mumbai to Nashik and beyond, driving northwards, a slew of malls dot the road. Starting with Korum Mall, then Viviana, High Street Mall, Lakecity Mall, Wonder Mall and R Mall—this roughly 5km stretch is packed with splurging options. Further south of Korum is Cinemax-Eternity mall and north of R Mall leads up to Ghodbunder Road, Thane’s hottest development zone.

The neighbourhood also has a stand-alone D-Mart store and showrooms of Woodland, Vijay Sales, Reliance Digital, Kohinoor, LG and Samsung for more focused shopping. Big Bazaar hyper market store upgraded to Big Bazaar Gen Nxt, a testimony to the evolving lifestyle of people in this area.

All this development has come up in the last 15 years, changing the texture of this neighbourhood completely. Typically, habitations along a highway tend to see it both as an advantage and not—you get road access but no peace and quiet. Retail has added a third dimension, making the area more livable and possibly more exciting.

This is not just the low-key mom-and-pop retail though—this is the big box, thousands of square feet of built-up space filled with shops, cinemas, entertainment and the inevitable traffic jams.

Thane has a place in national history, predominantly due to the first railway line in the country that was laid in the 19th century, connecting it close to the southern tip of Mumbai, Bori Bunder (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus).

In more recent times, Thane became a residential hub for people moving out of the increasingly unaffordable city—like other suburbs of Mumbai.

According to the 2011 Census, Thane had a population of 1.8 million and estimates say it has increased by nearly 50% in five years, making it one of the fastest growing towns in the country. With over 14,000 people per square kilometre, this is a dense human habitation.

There are close to 50-60 projects under construction in Thane and most are on the Ghodbunder stretch of 9-10km, according to Hemant Gala, director at Larkins Group, property developers in Thane for nearly 40 years. The group has built about 5,000 units so far and has 2,500 units spread across 30 acres under construction.

By 2019, another builder, the Hiranandani Group will have a 6,000-unit township catering to a population of 35,000 people and providing employment for as many as 60,000. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd has a 700,000 sq. ft campus with employment for 22,000 people coming up in Ghodbunder, a complete township with commercial, residential, retail and entertainment facilities. The corporate headquarters of Bayer will be in the township.

The Ghodbunder stretch hosts a couple of four-star hotels and the Goenka International School at Kapurbawdi. The rates for the residential projects in the area vary between Rs 6k - Rs11k per sq. ft.

In Thane, every junction has flyovers, there are no signals and it is extremely well planned. The retail, multiplexes, commercial and residential are all well laid out.

With the developing infrastructure and transportation, people’s movement in the future would be from Mumbai to Thane—to shop, of course. Way back in 2005 this used to be the case when Thane, before Mumbai, got the first mall with a multiplex, entertainment, food courts and shopping under one roof—Wonder Mall.

Ghodbunder is a completely new development. The road initially had utility stores that helped building homes, like furniture, plumbing, home improvement, and then consumer durables came up followed by the big box retail malls, which are a more recent phenomenon.