Kahandawala – the French Riviera’s builder to the rich and famous
Mr. Chandima Kahandawala
Chandima Kahandawala has built stairways to heaven on the French Riviera for the stars. Now he wants to replicate that back home.
A civil engineer who lived in France for more than 25 years, Mr. Kahandawala is now engaged in building a twin tower apartment blocks in Jaela – the Bellevue Residencies. However, his dream is to build luxury resort villas in Hikkaduwa, complete with mooring for your own yacht plus a helipad for your private helicopter.
The local glitterati better get ready to follow in the footsteps of Tina Turner, Michael Schumacher or Julian Lennon, some of the big names who have been among his clientele back on the Cote d’Azur, the Mediterranean coast of southeastern France, home to the glamorous jet set.
“It was really no big deal building for the stars but it did look good for my portfolio. On the Cote d’Azur you were likely to bump into some famous person at the supermarket. But yes, I was lucky to be able to build houses for the rich and famous,” says Mr. Kahandawala.
While a fully qualified civil engineer, his biggest trait was patience – “you have to be willing to listen to your clients and give them what they want, however outlandish their requests were. They had money and they wanted things done their way, so we had to be able to give them that,” recounts Mr. Kahandawala.
Julian, son of late Beatles rock star John Lennon, for instance, had wanted his driveway at his mansion paved with arch-shaped rose-pink marble blocks. “We had to do it five times before Julian was satisfied. There was nothing wrong with what we did at the outset, but he was quite finicky and wanted the driveway to his front door and to his garage to be in perfect symmetry.”
After finishing his A-levels at Maris Stella College in Negombo, Mr. Kahandawala joined the German Technical College to undergo a course in electronic engineering. In 1993, just 19, Kahandawala went to Switzerland to further his studies. Two years later he decided to move to France where he got a job as an electronic and electrical technician.
“As soon I went to France, in 1995, I applied for a residency visa but was turned down. I had to wait five years before I got a permanent visa. In this time while working as an electrical technician, I also decided to learn French and also enrolled myself to do a degree in civil engineering,” Mr. Kahandawala revealed.
While studying
While studying and working, he struck up a close friendship with a French architect and on his advise moved from Paris to Nice in the south of France. The move was one in the right direction as far as his career was concerned, and soon he was in construction, building houses for millionaires.
“My friend the French architect had a lot of contacts with high society and he introduced me. It was the start of my journey.”
Together with the architect, Mr. Kahandawala opened a construction company and one of his first clients was a guy called Barry MacFadzean, an investment banker and top-end fund manager, who wanted a villa built on the French Riviera.
Work started flowing in. From rich Arab sheikhs to pop stars and Formula One racing drivers, Mr. Kahandawala served them all with a passion.
One billionaire Arab client, probably a member of the Royal Fahd dynasty, wanted his infinity pool overlooking Cannes to be lit up so that it could be viewed at night.
“This pool with its overflow could be seen from down in the town of Cannes. My Arab client wanted it to be lit up so that at night people would look up and be able to identify the house,” Mr. Kahandawala
“I got special tube lights costing 1,500 Euros per metre and did the work lining it along the overflow so that it looked spectacular at night. But this guy wanted the lights to be in the shape of an arch. The tube lights were out and I decided to put in spotlights in certain areas which would light up an arch effect. This cost me only 35 Euros per spotlight and I only needed 15.”
“Even though it cost me less to complete the work with the spotlight, my Arab client insisted that he pay me at the cost of the original estimate to line the pool at 1,500 Euros per metre. He was so happy that I had been able to give him what he wanted that he didn’t mind paying me much more than the cost.”
“I learned a lesson then. The rich will spend whatever as long as they get what they want. Just like the Sheikh who wanted a copper bathtub from England even though it cost 5000 sterling pounds,” Mr. Kahandawala added.
Met Schumacher
He met German racing driver Michael Schumacher before he met with an accident in 2013 while skiing suffering a traumatic brain injury which left him paralysed. He had a huge house and he wanted another one built for his guests.
“Michael was such a nice guy. He had this huge Formula One car built out of marble in front of his villa house in Nice and lived for racing. I enjoyed working for him,” Mr. Kahandawala related.
Singer Tina Turner also turned to Mr. Kahandawala when she wanted to add a small studio apartment to her sprawling villa on 10 hectares of Olive grove land in the south of France.
In 2010, he decided it was time to return to his roots and came back on an exploratory visit bringing with him a number of French investors. The visitors decided Sri Lanka was not ripe for investment and returned home with a Gallic shrug.
But Mr. Kahandawala kept faith and began investing in property believing that with the war over, the island was ripe for growth.
“I invested around four million Euros in property, but it has only been recently that I have started to building. My first project is in Jaela but I soon hope to build my dream in Hikkaduwa.”
The Bellevue Residencies in Jaela will be two tower blocks of 35 storeys. When complete it will have 320 apartments and a shopping complex. The BOI project will be the tallest building outside Colombo.
His dream property in Hikkaduwa is an 7.5 acres plot fronting water on all sides. He wants to turn it into a luxurious retreat for the rich, targeting the wealthy Princes of Saudi and other mega-billionaires who want something more than just mere five-star comforts.
“There will be seven plots, each of around 100 acres. Every one of them will have a private pier to berth your yacht as well as a helipad. The square footage of each villa will be between 10,000 and 15,000. We will custom-build it, according to the taste and preference of the client,” Mr. Kahandawala revealed.
With a starting price of only US$2.5 million, this will be a steal for the rich and famous.
“I want to sell nature to a selected clientele. For example, near my Hikkaduwa plot are many prawn farms. We will ensure that none of these is affected and place a lot of emphasis on eco-friendly building. This will add value to the property for when the buyer knows that the environment has been taken into account, they will like it more,” says Mr. Kahandawala. Having built stairways to heaven in the south of France, Mr. Kahandawala is now aiming higher in Sri Lanka.