Halekai, which means home by the sea, in Colaba

MUMBAI: Even as Ratan Tata’s will makes headlines, speculation has begun about the future of the sea-facing bungalow in Colaba where he lived in his later years. Will Halekai suffer the same fate as JRD Tata’s bungalow, The Cairn, or will his younger half-brother and Tata Trusts chairman, Noel Tata, choose to make it his new home?

There are indications that Noel and his family may consider moving from Windmere in Cuffe Parade to the more spacious Halekai —even if not in the immediate future. Some, however, dismiss the possibility.
Halekai is a four-storey, 13,350 sq ft property, owned by Ewart Investments, a 100% subsidiary of Tata Sons, and was provided to Ratan Tata. After retiring from Tata Sons in 2012, he made Halekai his home and shifted his focus primarily to his role as chairman of Tata Trusts.
Ratan Tata—who studied architecture at Cornell University and briefly worked as an architect before joining the Tata Group in 1962—designed Halekai with the assistance of architect Ratan Batliboi and lived there with his German shepherds and house staff.
With the chhamsi prayer ceremony – which according to Zoroastrain culture is performed six months after a person’s death – concluding on Sunday, Noel, who was in Dubai for the annual Tata Group leadership conclave during the weekend, may be open to exploring the option of a shift, sources said. Instead of remaining vacant, as it has been since Ratan Tata passed away in October 2024, it would be better for the Colaba bungalow to be occupied, they added.
The Mumbai residences of some former chairmen/deputy chairmen of the Tata Group have fallen into disuse after their demise. The Cairn on Altamount Road, where JRD Tata lived (the two-storey Scottish-style house was purchased by Tata Sons for Rs 50 crore), and the beach-facing bungalow in Juhu (near JW Marriott Hotel) owned by Naval Tata, who was deputy chairman and father of Noel and Ratan Tata, remain unoccupied. Both properties have from time to time been occupied by top Tata Group executives and friends of the Tata family, sources said.
Noel, his wife Aloo Mistry, and their family have been residing in Windmere, a six-storey building in Cuffe Parade, for a considerable period. It was inherited by Aloo and her sister Laila Jehangir from their father Pallonji Mistry, the former chairman of Shapoorji Pallonji Group. Pallonji lived in Windmere until the 1980s before moving to Sterling Bay in Walkeshwar. Aloo owns six apartments (each floor has an area of 6,000 sq ft) in Windmere while Laila, an NRI, owns the remaining six. An email inquiry sent to Noel Tata regarding Halekai on April 2 did not elicit a response.