When Mumbai was officially known as ‘Bombay’, the hotel which was the hub of glitz and glamour was ‘Sea Rock’ in Bandra. The hotel was badly affected during the 1993 Bombay blasts. Now, this fallen gem is all set to rise once again as The Taj Group, which bought Sea Rock in 2009, will construct a 30-storey hotel at the Bandstand site, with a swimming pool on the 31st floor.
The Indian Hotels Company, which runs Taj hotels, now has approvals to construct a 30-storey building on the site at Bandstand in Bandra comprising a three-tier basement, six floors of common amenities, guest rooms from 7th to 29th floors and a swimming pool on the 31st.
According to reports in Mumbai Mirror, The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) met to clear the hotel's construction on October 30 and the minutes were finalised on December 12.
Sea Rock was the playground for Bollywood, suburban businessmen and sports personalities which made the water-front hub feel like a scene coming out of ‘The Great Gatsby’. To add to all the bling, Sea Rock boasted a revolving restaurant!
Sea Rock's good days came to an end on March 12, 1993. One of the six blasts which rattled Mumbai damaged parts of the hotel. The development set off a chain of disruptive events, which included a 14-year legal battle between EHIL and ITC Welcomgroup, that managed the hotel. The dispute was settled out of court.
The hotel was completely razed in 2010.
Sea Rock was started by U B Luthria, a Juhu-based hotelier, in the late 1970s and was later bought by Claridges Hotel in 2005 for ₹330 Crores. In 2009, they sold the property to the Tata Group-owned Indian Hotels for ₹680 Crore.
The hotel, spread over six acres of prime seafront was a gem back in the day and it would be exciting to see it rise again, this time, in Mumbai.
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