Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has started paperwork to lease out 2.1 lakh sq ft on two basement levels, a retail space and parking lot, at the Shenoy Nagar station under what used to be the 8.8 acre Thiru Vi Ka Park.
CMRL said Thiru Vi Ka Park, which it shut for more than a decade and cut 221 trees there, is also getting ready.
Officials said the underground complex built over a 4.3 lakh sq ft area will have a 2.1 lakh sq ft shopping space and 1.7 lakh sq ft parking area for 404 cars and 893 bikes.
Local residents had opposed the project and gone to court in a bid to save their park, but in vain.
The construction of the amenities centre has not just led to loss of greenery including some tall, old shade-giving trees, but deep-rooted trees can no longer grow in the centre of the park.
The compensatory saplings will be planted inside 1.2-metre-deep planter boxes and may not grow as tall as the ones lost.
CMRL officials said deep-rooted trees will be planted along the periphery of the park, which has soil underneath.
