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Hoardings on the main façade of the Dorabjee’s Mall are being erected as Parsiana representatives approach the main entrance, on September 1, 2016. The ground floor houses outlets for Lakme, the cosmetics company, Pantaloons, the ready-to-wear store, Café Coffee Day and Dominoes, the pizza place, among others, which are operational. Fit-outs are in progress in some parts of the space.
The builder and owner Jehangir Dorabjee  meets us in his son Daniel’s office on the second floor of the Mall. Seventy percent of the available space has been signed up for, and 50% already occupied and functioning, he states. Inox, the six-screen multiplex will open by November this year, we are informed. Dorabjee points out that this outlet of the cine screen chain will be the "plushest of all in Poona.” D-Mart, the hypermarket with 110 nationwide outlets that occupies 50,000 sq ft of space on the ground floor has been functioning for several months now. The realtor states that his mall management team was involved with the super market company right from the design phase, "to give it an airy and non-cramped look.” He believes that he would like to focus on mid-range shops and clientele. "It works in the long run … top end shops may add glamor to your mall, but limit the clientele,” he states.  The food court has about a dozen outlets that are already operational and includes international names in fast food like Subway and Marrakesh.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 300,000 sq ft Mall in the NIBM Extension area of Poona will formally open in January 2017, though the soft opening took place in March of this year. Work on the Mall, which has an additional 150,000 sq ft of parking space, started in 2011, says Dorabjee. While he is also the chairman and managing director of Dorabjee Estates Private Limited, that has to its credit several other residential and commercial developments, the Mall is being developed and run by Jehangir through his sole-proprietorship concern. Earlier partners in the venture have exited, requiring a change in the name from Dorabjee Royal Heritage Mall to simply Dorabjee’s Mall.
Dorabjee Estates has a track record of development of 18 acres of land: a complex with over 40 row houses, 10 twin and seven single bungalows, shops and offices, two towers of 11 floors each, with 180 flats of two and three bedrooms called Dorabjee Paradise (which abuts the Mall); the Vibgyor School for 2,400 students at the same location, and The Country Club in Undri (See "Constructive connections,” Parsiana, August 7, 2012).   
It is important for any mall to focus on two or three prime clients (shops) who will be the major contributors to the revenue, states Dorabjee. "Footfall pullers,” he calls them. The contracts with most of the shops stipulate a minimum guaranteed amount to the owner plus a percentage of their earnings. He calls the rentals, which start at Rs 90 per sq ft per month, "very reasonable, considering that the shops will enjoy a large number of footfalls when the housing developments around the location are completed.” Currently the Mall sees about 2,000 visitors daily on weekdays and 5,000 on weekends.
Dorabjee lists the delays in obtaining several licenses and permissions required from the municipal authorities as the top pain area during the construction. Getting brands to come in and sign up for space was not a problem due to the inherent advantage of the location. "The nearest comparable mall is the Seasons Mall, which is 11 km away,” he states. An Inorbit Mall is planned nearby, and is likely to come up only three years later, but the businessman adds that work on it is stalled, for reasons that are not known to him. "We will always have the first mover advantage,” he states, adding cautiously that the Mall may break even by December this year. "And who knows, in 2020, we will be super successful,” he adds.
The Multi-Fit Gym that he walks us into is the third outlet of the fitness chain in that city. The unique selling proposition (USP) of the Gym is that there are very few machines. The focus is on "good old-fashioned gymming, using workouts and weights and the like.” The ‘butt-kick workout program’ that is displayed enthuses patrons to work out according to the alphabets of their name ("F for 25 frog jumps, T for 30 squat crunches” and so on).

 

 

 

 

 

 

To exit his Mall office, a combination lock has to be opened, for which he has to ask a staff member to provide the code. Fifty-six-year-old Dorabjee, who has been in the real estate business since 1988, first as a broker and then as a developer, says "Aiya mané koi orakhtu nathi, (no one recognizes me here).” He visits the Mall only once a week, preferring to work out of his Kondhwa Road office. He wants to have a work-life balance ("I have worked hard enough throughout my life”) and let Daniel take the major operational decisions. Daughter Vahabbiz is an actor based in Bombay; Jehangir has referred to wife Firoza in the past as the "backbone” of the business. 
"I only look into the key financials,” he smiles, adding that he does not meet clients (lessors of shops) as a policy. He is the policy maker here, the senior Dorabjee adds.