A $20M mansion home was built on top of a 400-foot skyscraper. The tycoon owner may never get to live in it.
A $20 million sky mansion sits on top of a 33-story luxury apartment complex in India.
The spectacular home was designed for the businessman Vijay Mallya.
Mallya, who fled India to the UK, faces charges of financial crimes. He may never live in the mansion.
Tycoons and business moguls are known for their extravagant and often eccentric housing choices. But one controversial entrepreneur has taken luxury mansions to new heights — 400 feet, to be precise.
Sitting on top of a 33-story luxury apartment complex in Bengaluru, India, this sky mansion is more than 40,000 square feet with two floors, a helipad, lush gardens, an infinity swimming pool, and a 360-degree viewing deck.
Irfan Razack, the chairman of Prestige Estates Projects, which is part of a joint development agreement to construct the tower, previously said of the project: "It was a challenge to construct the mansion on a huge cantilever at that height, but we have ensured we build it exactly the way it was conceived."
Prestige Constructions didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The house has an estimated value of $20 million.
Another spectacular home owned by India's superrich is the Ambani family's Mumbai tower, Antilia. It cost an estimated $1 billion to build. It includes nine elevators, a 50-seat cinema, a full-service spa, a 168-car garage, and three helipads.
The Ambani residence is 27 stories high, though its many double-height ceilings mean it's closer in height to a traditional 40-story building.
The sky mansion in Bengaluru, though, was designed for the Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and is entirely separate from the apartments below.
The apartment block, known as Kingfisher Towers, was built on a 4.5-acre plot of land that once housed Mallya's ancestral home.
Vijay Mallya may never get to live in the mansion
There's a real possibility that Mallya won't ever get to live in the sky mansion.
Mallya was known as the "king of good times" for his opulent lifestyle, the Financial Times reported, but in March 2016, he fled India after defaulting on debts of more than $1 billion and facing fraud charges. He sought refuge in the UK.
When Mallya left, his mansion in the sky was still incomplete, reports in the Indian media said.
India has made numerous attempts to extradite the billionaire who made his fortune in the alcoholic-beverages business under the popular Kingfisher beer brand. According to recent statistics, in India, Kingfisher has a market share of 36% and has extended its presence to 69 countries, including Japan, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway.
Later in his career, Mallya tried his hand at the aviation industry and Formula 1 racing.
In August of last year, when asked about the possible extradition of Mallya back to India, Tom Tugendhat, the British minister of state security, told Press Trust of India: "We both have legal processes that must be gone through. But the UK government is absolutely clear, we have no intention of becoming a place where those who are seeking to evade justice can hide."
In January, The Times of India reported that a delegation composed of representatives from India's Central Bureau of Investigation, Enforcement Directorate, and National Investigation Agency was set to visit the UK to expedite the extradition of some of India's most wanted fugitives who had taken refuge in the UK.
The defense dealer Sanjay Bhandari, the diamond trader Nirav Modi, and Mallya were on the list.
Correction: March 25, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misspelled the surname of the chairman of Prestige Estates Projects. His name is Irfan Razack, not Irfan Razac.
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