For decades, Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Racecourse has stood as a rare sprawl of green in a city that refuses to stop building upwards. Now, it’s going underground. Backed by the BMC and architect Hafeez Contractor, the site is set for a transformation that rethinks what lies beneath.
Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Racecourse To Get A Makeover
According to the Hindustan Times, in what may be one of the most ambitious civic projects the city has seen in years, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), in collaboration with architect Hafeez Contractor, is set to convert the underbelly of the 211-acre Mahalaxmi racecourse.
It is all set to transform into a two-tiered, Olympic-grade sports and entertainment complex, and that too without touching a blade of grass on the surface!
The contractor, who has spent the last few months poring over utility maps and city blueprints, iterated the sentiment in his statement. He said that when he was 18, he had to cross miles to find a proper swimming pool, and this facility is what he wished had existed when he was growing up. His redevelopment project at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse is one such effort.
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Know About The Infrastructure: Mahalaxmi Racecourse
The design at the Mahalaxmi racecourse is layered. The first basement, spread across 20 acres, will house a fully equipped sports complex featuring a 400-metre synthetic track, an Olympic-size pool, six squash and six tennis courts, table tennis zones, a shooting range, and a skating rink.
The Mahalaxmi racecourse will also have dedicated arenas for gymnastics, handball, basketball, kho-kho, martial arts and indoor cricket practice. It is all set to include a convention centre for training programmes and sports-related events. Every inch of this subterranean expanse is engineered to Olympic specifications.
One level below that lies a logistical marvel: a parking facility capable of holding more than 5,000 cars. Given the volume of people a future concert, sports event, or exhibition might draw, this level will also be connected directly to the Western Freeway, ensuring crowd flow remains manageable and traffic disruption is minimal.
The underground design is a shell of concrete and vision, lit from above by a large central skylight and surrounded by a moat to channel daylight into its depth.
The Man And Mission Behind The Plan
While the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) continues to lease 91 acres for racing activities, BMC’s focus is on the remaining 120 acres, divided strategically. 63.9 acres will bloom into a curated topiary garden and herb education zone.
A 13.6-acre concert ground and an 11.6-acre urban forest will give the city a cultural and ecological reprieve. Another 31.36 acres are under discussion for a monsoon-proof arena or indoor auditorium. The equestrian track stays exactly where it is.
Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, speaking to the Hindustan Times, clarified that the Mahalaxmi racecourse’s operations will remain untouched. This is a location that has survived many half-baked ideas. In the early 2000s, there were talks of commercial tie-ups. Then, the Mahalaxmi racecourse received proposals for parking lots, aquariums, and even a flyover.
But none of them blossomed into something notable. The debate intensified after the racecourse lease expired in 2013. Still, it took until January 2024 for the BMC and RWITC to arrive at mutually agreeable terms, as stated by the Hindustan Times.
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The Mahalaxmi Racecourse project signals a rare urban blueprint, where heritage is preserved, space is reimagined, and infrastructure rises without reaching for the sky. If executed as planned, it could become a global case study in building beneath, not over, a city’s legacy.
Cover Image Courtesy: rwitcmumbai/Instagram