A journey from Madras to Chennai

For a city, transition is inevitable which goes along with the changes in its demographic status. Chennai has transformed into a modern city from what it was a few decades back, says K Ramanathan, who traces the city's journey from Madras to Chennai.

The southern metropolis has come a long way since the black and white era, registering all around development. Once a sleepy and conservative neighbourhood, the city is now full of life with liberal outlook coupled with vibrancy.  Chennai has become a city that ‘doesn't sleep’.

Chennai in 1960s

The development over the years has made visual changes on Chennai’s landscape. New settlements, roads, bridges, subways, high rises and business establishments have been added to cope with the rising demand. And one can’t deny the role real estate has played over the years in transforming Chennai into what it is today.

A look at Madras

Though the changes have made a paradigm shift to city landscape, it has brought in a host of inherent challenges as well. A few old-timers recalled that Chennai in those days was having less congested roads, quiet surroundings and blessed with fresh air and copious water, which gave the inhabitants a comfortable and quality life.

“In 60s and even earlier, though real estate was as vibrant as today’s in Chennai, only plot development was popular among realty developers. The Usman Road, which is now filled with jewellery, garment and other commercial establishments, was once occupied by real estate companies to sell plots - both within and outside city limits. The Corporation too encouraged residents to buy plots to construct individual homes. City Improvement Trust (CIT) was formed

Dr R Kumar

to develop plots. Today’s CIT Nagar and CIT Colony were the outcome of this Trust. Later, with the advent of Tamil Nadu Housing Board (1961), Ashok Nagar, Shastri Nagar, Indira Nagar, Besant Nagar, KK Nagar and Shenoy Nagar came into existence as plotted development. Anna Nagar was developed after the World Trade Fair in 1969 and Visvesvaraya tower (now know as Anna Nagar Tower), was built in the subsequent year. Later Tamil Nadu Housing Board developed residential plots, built apartments, roads, schools, commercial complexes, bus terminus and parks in Anna Nagar,” says Dr R Kumar, Managing Director, Navin Housing and Properties (P) Ltd, and one of the long-time residents of Chennai.

Loss and gain

Reminiscing about the replacement of several old landmarks due to the inevitable urbanisation, Dr Kumar, who is also the Chairman of Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI), Chennai, said, “We have lost very many buildings which were once the landmarks of the city to the rapid real estate and infrastructure developments. Popular yesteryears’ theatres like Saffire (1964 -1990), Gaiety (1914-2003), Wellington (1918 -2010),

Kamadhenu (1920- 2008), Nagesh, Chitra etc have been replaced with multi-storey shopping complex-cum-office structures. Hotels Oceanic, Aun, Dasaprakash and Ram Bhavan are no more now.  Breez and JW Marriott too are getting replaced with residential and commercial high-rises. But I feel that unless the buildings are architecturally important, we don’t need to worry about their non-existence anymore. Buildings, which are 30-40 years old, have to be redeveloped.”

Agreeing to Kumar, Sanjay Chugh, Head–Residential Services–Chennai, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) India, says, “Redevelopment has indeed changed Chennai’s landscape considerably. Egmore was the first to experience the trend in 1970s. Even today, several bungalows and independent houses are getting redeveloped to multi-storey and commercial complexes.  The trend has spread to other areas as well.”

But there are a few landmarks which withstood the time such as LIC building, which was once the tallest tower in Chennai, Fort St. George, Amir Mahal, SBI building, Chennai Central and Egmore Railway Stations, Bharat Insurance building, Chepauk Palace, Ripon building, Presidency College, Parrys Building, Theosophical Society, Madras High Court, General Post Office, Anna University, Higginbotham's, Victoria Public Hall, etc.

Madras vs Chennai

Comparing old Chennai with the modern metro city, old timers feel that in those days, the quality of life was better though they did not have technology at their disposal. The infrastructure set up available was enough to meet their civic and sociological needs.

N Nandakumar

“Though we didn’t have much motors on roads in 60s or 80s, the city landscape was filled with full of greenery and hence the air was fresh. We had sweet ground water. Though we didn’t have adequate transport connectivity, visiting far-off places was never a burden for residents. But today, even people have swanky cars, visiting a place just few kilometers away has become an arduous task. The city has grown exponentially, no doubt, but sans basic infrastructure. Hence the quality of life has gone substandard. We depend on obsolete infrastructure and sanitary system. Chennai still has open drainage at several places, which is appalling. We have acute water and power shortage. In short, the city is yet to become self-sustainable even decades after the Independence,” says N Nandakumar, President, CREDAI, Tamil Nadu.

Countering that the redevelopment of old buildings and construction of new high-rises have indeed helped to meet the city’s growing housing demand, Sanjay opines, “Such large development has narrowed the demand-supply gap. Old buildings must be redeveloped, which not only increases housing stocks, these buildings can be better planned incorporating modern facilities.” Agreeing that the increase in population density has put pressure on city infrastructure, he says, there is still room for the planners to improve the living condition of denizens.

He says, rapid transport systems like Chennai metro and mono rail would go a long way to connect far-off areas to the Central Business District (CBD). “As far as real estate in Chennai is concerned, one thing that has changed over the years is the home buyers’ conservative mind-set. Thanks to the improved connectivity, people, who once refused to think beyond Mylapore, Mambalam, T Nagar, Triplicane, Adayar, or Nungambakkam, are going beyond Ponnamallee, Kottivakkam, Kelambakkam Thiruvottiur or even Chengalpet. For instance, home buyers in those days used to give importance to location than other things like amenities and infrastructure. This has changed now. For buyers, distance is not a matter anymore.

“In those days, people even dare to think beyond Adyar River for habitation purpose. Plots on the   other side were sold for pea-nuts as no one would want to invest money there. But those who had invested in land there saw rapid development within few years. People are no more conservative as far as choosing the place for dwelling is concerned. Their outlook has changed. Even Tindivanam and Thiruvallur look nearer now,” says Kumar.

Advent of high-rises

LIC building on Anna Salai was the first skyscraper of Chennai, built in 1961. The building marked the transition from lime-and-brick construction to concrete columns. LIC remained the tallest for over 35 years before it was replaced by Hyatt Regency in Anna Salai and Arihant Majestic Towers in Koyambedu, in the mid-1990s.  TVH Ouranya Bay 1 is presently the tallest building in Chennai with 30 floors.

“People from nearby districts and states, who used to come to Chennai, never missed the opportunity to visit LIC in those days. So, when the fire broke out in July 1975 which destroyed a few levels of the building, the incident saddened everyone in the state and also made the city planners think about fool-proof fire safety methods for high-rises, says Muralidharan, a retired government teacher from Royapuram.

The CMDA building in Egmore was the second skyscraper in Chennai built in 1972. “Multi-storey buildings for residential purposes were not preferred due to non existence of demand and no private developer wanted to do a project on such a large scale. Also, buildings with sustainable features were not known to many. We built the first multi-storey ‘intelligent’ (green) building of South East Asia in Chennai at Egmore for Madras Metropolitan Development Authority (MMDA) now known as CMDA. With 12 floors, the building was made sustainability in mind. This was followed by several such buildings across the country,” says Dr Kumar, who was the Planner In-Charge of the building.

Future scenario

For Chennai, urbanization is now at its zenith, growing in all sides. Thanks to the industrialization which made the southern metropolis a major hub for automobile, IT and ITeS, Education, Engineering and allied industry and Manufacturing and Service sectors, housing needs have gone up manifold. The realty in city has no option but to grow vertically, providing homes in multi-storey and community environment. Homes are getting smaller to make affordable. “However, over the years development did not go hand-in-hand with the quality of life,” says Nandakumar, who is also the Managing Director of DevinarayanHousing and Property Developers.

The IT boom has brought in a lot of changes in terms of real estate development along OMR, ECR and GST Roads in 90s and early 2000. The rise in housing demand has produced realty hotspots along these corridors and new places were added frequently along west and north Chennai. But still, experts believe that the city planners need to do a lot of groundwork to make the city self-sustainable.

“We need to improve the basic infrastructure in Chennai to make it a developed city.  Bad roads, inadequate drainage and drinking water facility, faulty drains, frequent power outages, non-dependable public and private transport systems are some of the deterrents we need to address to make the city progressive,” Nandakumar adds.

“Chennai’s demographic picture is changing quite rapidly with multi-cultural and community living becoming the accepted norms for home seekers. The ambitious Chennai Metro Rail and Mono Rail projects will take Chennai to a new level of development in the coming years. The MRTS will bring far off places, which are now on the outskirts of the city, within the reach of Chennai’s CBD. We will see rapid reality development along the corridors of the metro and mono rail routes and this will increase the housing stocks,” adds Sanjay.

Celebrity speaks

S Ve Shekher, Actor and Playwright

“Growth without infrastructure is what I see Chennai from 60s to today. People don’t have space to park their vehicles. Roads which were once turning as ‘U’ bends have became ‘V’ bends now, thanks to encroachments. The classic example is Santhome to Thiruvanmiyur road. Subsequent governments did not bother to address this issue and the ultimate sufferers are the road users. Roads are the same today as it was a few decades back. Though we have more bridges, flyovers and subways, they failed to address the traffic congestion. Over the years, buildings have replaced the greenery and people have to fight for their basic needs.”