Three speciality restaurants, 24x7 coffee shop, billiards and banqueting, swimming and squash, health club and beauty salon, a library and a unique museum of moveable assets related to racing catalogued by Bowrings?

A grand-scale social club on its 11, Russell Street, premises is the lifeline the struggling Royal Calcutta Turf Club (RCTC) hopes to cling to and lift itself out of choppy waters. And the management is confident the ?exclusive address? will be ready to gallop by mid-2006.

A preliminary design solution for the elite institution, set to come up on the turf club?s crumbling Palladian-style heritage campus, has been submitted by Bhubaneswar-based Creative Design Group, and the stewards hope to launch membership for the first phase ?by February or March next year?.

The RCTC management, which has approved in principle the blueprint for the city club project, has also incorporated modifications suggested by the heritage committee to preserve the institution?s essential character.

Renovation of the main building on Russell Street has commenced and the turf club authorities hope the first phase can be completed with ?basic facilities? by May 2005.

?The turf club needs an immediate injection of crores to stay afloat and we want to turn the non-performing assets (valued at nearly Rs 140 crore) into productive ones,? says J.N. Sapru, steward and chairman of the think tank formed in January 2003 to develop the social club.

Entry fee to the city club of RCTC is being pegged at around Rs 3 lakh for a full-fledged member, while various other categories will also be taken in over a period of five years.

The turf club is confident it can sell its social club membership at the premium price because of the exclusivity that comes with being Asia?s first race course.

?The think tank is definitely bullish about the membership taking off,? announces steward Sujit Bhattacharyya.

The writing has been on the Russell Street wall for quite some time, as the magnificent structure, a victim of ?historical mismanagement?, falls apart from apathy and non-use.

Apart from the AGM and the stewards? meeting, the regal premises are hardly utilised.

Membership strength has dwindled from 300-plus to an anaemic 126 now.

With Calcutta having lost its prior position of pre-eminence on the national racing circuit, barely 40 to 50 members actually fetch up at the races with any degree of regularity.

?It dawned on the existing members and the club management that we couldn?t live in the past and needed to invite new members to become viable,? says Sapru.

So, The Safe Consortium was roped in as consultant to help RCTC provide the hapless racing scene in town a shot in the arm ?from profits generated at the social club?.

Membership to the city club would come with racing as an adjunct, while the race course, too, would get a facelift. A nine-hole golf course, a children?s park and outdoor party facilities for members are being explored, while the stands will be renovated to make the course a ?rocking rendezvous? for Calcuttans and tourists alike.

Even night racing, which would require sophisticated illumination and cost around Rs 3-4 crore, is on the agenda.