Chennai: North Chennai is no more a labour dominated neighborhood forcing realtors to stay away. New skyrise and gated community projects are coming up here. The historical Binny mills, theatres and old buildings are paving the way for new flats that indicate real estate market sources.

With construction activities now gaining momentum inside the 100 acre Binny mills and also in the adjacent Vysarpadi Jeeva station vicinity, the locality known for congestion and slum settlements, is now getting a makeover.

Sources with the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and Chennai corporation confirm that most of the projects are now at the bhoomi pooja stage, following which they will apply for plan approvals.

“Since 2010, the real estate market is opening up and now there is a boom in the north Chennai market following successful recent projects. Developers are now going in for large pact land deals,” explains N. Nandakumar, president, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI).

Concept-based projects are now coming up in north Chennai. A few major groups have promoted projects targeting the Jain community and these turned out to be successful.

Similarly, budget houses promoted for mixed groups are also successful in the Tondiarpet area and this has made the market conducive for both the developers and the customers.

There are also other advantages as land prices are relatively cheap and basic infrastructure like drinking water and interior roads already exist in the old city.

The only aspect that north Chennai lacks is social infrastructure like lakes, entertainment parks, multiplexes, he added.

According to V.T. Balaji of Jamalia, the issue that has been haunting the development of Pulianthope and Perambur is the unhygienic slaughterhouses and congestion.

“The city corporation has already modernized the Perambur slaughter house and the modernised Pulianthope slaughter house is also ready for operation. Sanitation in these areas has improved a lot in recent months,” opined Thiru Vi Ka Nagar MLA V. Neelakandan.