How many properties of Ratan Tata, JRD Tata, Naval Tata are vacant? Noel Tata may shift to…

For now, whether Noel Tata will leave Windermere and stay in Ratan Tata’s bungalow Halekai is still uncertain.

After the passing of Ratan Tata in October 2024 his bungalow, ‘Halekai,’  in Mumbai is vacant for many months. According to TOI report Noel Tata, Ratan Tata’s stepbrother and chairman of Tata Trusts can move into the property with his family. However, the report also claimed that Noel may live in his current home Windermere only which is at Cuffe Parade in Mumbai.

Hekekai is a four-floor bungalow built on 13,350 square-foot land. It is owned by Ewart Investments, which is a subsidiary of Tata Sons. The bungalow was allocated to Ratan Tata in 2012 after his retirement as Tata Sons chairman. During his last years, Tata resided here with his German Shepherds and domestic staff. He used to work on Tata Trusts’ activities from here.

Ratan Tata was a Cornell University architecture graduate so he himself designed Hekekai along with his friend and architect Ratan Batliboi. Since his death, the bungalow has been vacant.

However this is not the first property of Tata’s that is vacant, there are many other properties of the Tata family which are not utilized by them currently, according to media reports.

Tata’s Vacant Properties

Many other homes of former Tata chairmen have remained unoccupied. J.R.D. Tata’s two-floor Scottish-style bungalow, ‘The Cairn,’ located on Altamount Road, was acquired by Tata Sons for Rs 50 crore but is mostly unused. Similarly, the Juhu bungalow once owned by Naval Tata, Ratan and Noel’s father, is also empty. Occasionally, these properties are utilized by senior Tata Group officials or family friends.

Where Noel Tata Stays?

Windermere is a property inherited by Noel’s wife, Aloo Mistry, and her sister, Laila Jehangir, from their father, Pallonji Mistry. Some believe as conclusion of the six-month Parsi tradition of the ‘Chamsi’ prayer ceremony for Ratan Tata was recently conducted so Noel Tata’s may move to Halekai. 

Noel Tata stays with his wife Aloo and family at Windermere, a six-story building in Cuffe Parade. Each of the six apartments are in 6,000 square feet, while Laila Jehangir, who lives abroad, owns the remaining six apartments. Pallonji Mistry, Aloo’s father and former chairman of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, resided in Windermere until moving to Sterling Bay, Walkeshwar, in the 1980s.