87-year-old bungalow in Bandra to undergo self-redevelopment

The city has heard of cooperative housing societies opting for self-redevelopment.

- Ateeq Shaikh

However, in a rare instance, a bungalow in the tony suburb of Bandra will go through a makeover, financed by its owners. The Pereira family has decided to get their 87-year-old abode rebuilt into a multistory tower where they plan to occupy the top four floors and make the rest available to interested buyers.

The bungalow, Victoria Cottage along Veronica street, was built in 1938 by Dominic Lewis Pereira, who earlier lived in Mahim. Dominic later sold the bungalow to Didacus Everest Pereira. At present, Didacus’s son Vivian and his wife Myra, have been living at the bungalow since their marriage in 1975.

“Victoria Cottage is part of the larger St. Sebastian Homes Cooperative Housing Society, which has 110 plots,” said Akbar Jiwani, project management consultant of Victoria Cottage. In its vicinity, multiple plots have already been redeveloped in the conventional way, where the land rights were given over to a developer who then managed the project.