Artist’s impression of the Acropolis tower

Sport merges with lifestyle in a Rs 200-crore retail-entertainment-office project on the Rashbehari Connector to the EM Bypass.

Acropolis, a 750,000-sq-ft tower, will anchor the 6.5-acre development by Merlin Projects in partnership with Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), coming up on the Rajdanga grounds, next to Siemens.

Merlin, which won the CMDA bid for the mixed-use project, will also develop a 4,000-seater multi-discipline sports stadium on a build-and-transfer basis as part of the bid specification.

To be launched on Thursday by urban development minister and CMDA chairman Asok Bhattacharya, the project is expected to be ready by 2009.

“The Rajdanga Sports Complex is our first joint-sector project in the sports arena, a facility that will help budding players, residents and schoolchildren of the area. The high-end retail and office tower next to the complex makes it a win-win situation for all,” P.R. Baviskar, CEO of CMDA, told Metro.

The Rs 20.5-crore bid by Merlin was the highest in a field that featured Bengal Ambuja, Bengal Sristi, the Fort Group, the Salarpurias, Bengal Silver Spring, Jessop & Co, Mackintosh Burn, Laxmi Realtors, Dhoot Developers and Panchdeep Constructions.

Acropolis is designed by Bentel of South Africa and Edifice, while Stup Consultants of France has done the structural design. “The 250,000-sq-ft retail space will house premium brands, with a lifestyle departmental store as anchor and a 55,000-sq-ft food court,” said Sushil Mohta, managing director, Merlin Projects.

Acropolis will have dedicated zones for specialised retail. A four-screen multiplex, multiple dining and lounging options and an atrium with retail energisers are features of the shop-stop. A 350,000-sq-ft commercial block is set to house French knowledge process outsourcing company CFIT, with parking for 750 cars in the retail-office tower.

The developers are creating a “vertical division” between Acropolis and the sports complex. “We have designed the sports complex in a manner that local talent can be nurtured through coaching clinics; a value-added facility for local schools has also been created,” explained Mohta.