If you’ve ever spent an afternoon stuck in Bangalore’s legendary traffic near UB City, you’ve probably looked up and wondered what on earth that giant white building is sitting on top of a skyscraper. It looks like someone literally ripped a colonial mansion out of a posh London suburb and glued it to the roof of a 34-story tower. Honestly, it’s one of the weirdest and most fascinating sights in India.
That "sky mansion" is the vijay mallya house bangalore, or at least, it was meant to be.
Most people call it the "White House in the Sky." It’s perched nearly 400 feet above the ground, overlooking Cubbon Park and the Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was supposed to be the ultimate flex—a 40,000-square-foot sanctuary for the "King of Good Times." But instead of champagne parties and helipad arrivals, the house has spent the last few years as a ghost ship of sorts. It’s an empty, unfinished shell that serves as a massive, concrete reminder of a business empire that crashed harder than most people realize.
The Wild Story Behind the Sky Mansion
You can’t talk about the house without talking about the land it sits on. This isn't just some random plot. This 4.5-acre patch on Vittal Mallya Road was actually the site of Mallya’s ancestral home. He grew up there. When he decided to develop the Prestige Kingfisher Towers, he didn’t want to give up his childhood roots.
So, he made a deal that sounds like something out of a movie.
Basically, he told the developers at Prestige Group: "You can build your luxury towers, but you have to put my house back exactly where it was—just 34 floors higher." That’s how we ended up with a literal mansion sitting on a massive cantilevered slab. It’s a feat of engineering that’s kinda terrifying if you think about the physics of it.
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The house itself is spread across two levels (the 34th and 35th floors). It was designed to have:
- An indoor heated pool and an outdoor infinity pool.
- A private wine cellar (obviously).
- A salon and a full-scale spa.
- A rooftop helipad.
- A 360-degree viewing gallery.
It’s completely separate from the other 81 apartments in the towers. While the rest of the residents use their own entrances, Mallya had a private lobby and two high-speed elevators that went straight to his "front door" in the clouds.
Why nobody lives there
Here’s the thing—Mallya has never actually spent a night in this house. By the time the external structure was getting finished around 2016, his legal troubles with a consortium of Indian banks had exploded. He left for the UK, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved in.
Currently, the property is caught in a massive legal tug-of-war. The ED attached it under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Because it's "seized but not sold," the interiors are basically a construction zone. It’s a shell. No furniture, no gold-plated faucets, just concrete and the wind.
The Cost of Living in Kingfisher Towers
Even without Mallya, the building itself is the most expensive address in Bangalore. We’re talking about a place where a "standard" apartment is 8,321 square feet. To put that in perspective, that’s about five or six times the size of a decent 3BHK in the city.
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The prices are eye-watering. Back in 2024 and 2025, units were selling for anywhere between ₹35 crore and ₹50 crore. Some of the residents are the heavy hitters of the Indian tech and business world. We’re talking about people like Nikhil Kamath from Zerodha and various C-suite execs from Infosys.
What makes the building so special?
- Exclusivity: Each floor is just one apartment. You don’t have neighbors across the hall.
- The Views: You can see the entire green canopy of Cubbon Park. On a clear day, the 360-degree view of the skyline is unbeatable.
- The Ego Factor: Rumor has it that the project originally had different-sized apartments, but the billionaire buyers complained. They didn't want someone else to have a "bigger" flat, so the developers just made them all 8,000+ square feet to keep everyone's ego in check.
The Legal Mess: Who Owns it Now?
This is where it gets complicated. The vijay mallya house bangalore isn't just one property; it’s part of a liquidation process involving United Breweries Holdings Ltd (UBHL).
As of early 2026, the Karnataka High Court and the ED are still deep in the weeds of these proceedings. While many of Mallya's other assets—like his shares in United Spirits or his smaller villas—have been sold off to recover bank dues, the Sky Mansion is a tougher nut to crack.
How do you even sell an unfinished mansion on top of a skyscraper that shares structural integrity with 81 other luxury homes? It’s a logistical nightmare.
The banks have recovered a huge chunk of the ₹10,000+ crore owed (thanks to rising stock prices and other asset sales), but the penthouse remains in a state of "legal suspended animation." Mallya himself occasionally pops up in podcasts or interviews from London, claiming he wants to settle his debts and "restore" the property, but for now, it’s just a very expensive landmark for tourists to photograph.
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What Most People Get Wrong
People often think the house is rotting or falling apart. It’s not. The Prestige Group maintains the exterior and the common areas of Kingfisher Towers meticulously because they have other high-profile residents to keep happy.
Another misconception? That it’s just a "fancy flat." No, it’s a self-contained villa. It has its own private garden on the ground level that leads to the private elevators. It’s designed so the owner would never have to interact with anyone else in the building if they didn't want to.
Moving Forward: Actionable Insights for Real Estate Watchers
If you’re following the Bangalore luxury market or just fascinated by the Mallya saga, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Watch the ED Auctions: If you’re a high-net-worth individual (or just curious), keep an eye on the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) notices. While the penthouse hasn't hit the block yet, other units in the tower occasionally do.
- Engineering Marvels: If you’re into architecture, study the "cantilever" design of this building. It’s one of the few places in the world where such a heavy structure is supported so high up without traditional columns underneath the entire footprint.
- The "Mallya Premium" (or Discount): Interestingly, the association with Mallya hasn't hurt the property value. If anything, the "Billionaire Tower" branding has made Kingfisher Towers a trophy asset for Bangalore’s new tech wealth.
The Sky Mansion is likely to remain empty for a while longer as the courts grind through the paperwork. It stands as a symbol of an era of "big debt and bigger dreams"—a literal White House that's just a little too high to reach.
To stay updated on the legal status of the property, you can track the latest filings from the Enforcement Directorate or the Karnataka High Court’s liquidation updates regarding UBHL.