Raj Guru

RAJ GURU was born in India and migrated to the US in the early 90’s. He owned and operated a custom imaging lab in Chelsea, Manhattan for almost 10 years before delving into telecommunications, telecast services and ATM industries and then slowly moving to real estate development. With 20 years of experience in the real estate development industry, Mr. Guru serves as the development and technology arm of Atlas Hotels and Atlas Hospitality. Mr. Guru holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering as well as Biology.

He has owned and operated a portfolio of 23 franchised restaurants, KFC/Taco Bell in Florida. As an experienced NYC developer, he has completed several ground-up hotels including, the 310 room Staybridge Hotel in midtown Manhattan and Hampton Inn by LaGuardia Airport, from inception to Certificate of Occupancy, on time and on budget. In 2023, opened 2 ground up new construction hotel projects, a 128 room Hotel Indigo at 120 Water St New York in Financial District Manhattan and a 203 room independent boutique hotel, The Civilian at 305 W 48th Street New York, around Times Square. Both these projects were the brainchild of Mr. Guru, where he was instrumental in selection of the real estate, planning and designing the best layouts and programs on the proposed hotels/restaurant/bars and then completely overseeing every aspect of the development from raising equity and debt and then hard construction on site, to hiring and managing various engineers, architects, designers, franchise brand selection/approval, furnishing, finishing and hiring the right operators to manage the hotel and the several Food and Beverage outlets within the asset, thus maximizing the potential profitability of both the projects.

He is currently developing a 422 room VOCO by IHG hotel in main Times Square, with several food and beverage outlets within the facility overlooking the bow-tie at Times Square. The massive under construction project is slated to open in September 2025 and maybe the last hotel to be developed in Times Square area until year 2035!