Building Blocks For Success

Real-estate development firm Panchshil Realty has played a significant role in transforming Pune’s skyline with ultra-premium projects that are synonymous with luxury and quality of construction. MARWAR catches up with brothers Atul and Sagar Chordia to comprehend their journey of over 15 years, which has been marked by the brand’s meteoric rise and association with marquee names such as the Trump Organization, Philippe Starck and Kelly Hoppen, among others.

- Sneha Mahale

IN NOVEMBER 2016, IMAGES OF US PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD Trump’s meeting with three Indian businessmen at New York’s Trump Tower surfaced on social media. Property czars Atul and Sagar Chordia and Kalpesh Mehta had managed an audience with the incoming POTUS before any other world leader, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe being the exception. The meeting created a stir, with leading media outlets across the world contemplating how they had executed this coup.

For the dynamic and well-connected Atul and Sagar Chordia, the much-hyped meeting just happened to be another day at the office. Eminent names in the Indian circuit, the duo run the real-estate development firm Panchshil Realty. Its big-ticket project is the first Trump-branded property in India in Pune, besides other landmarks in the same city such as JW Marriott Hotel, Double Tree Hilton, Oakwood, Marriott Suites, Radisson Blu Hotel, Courtyard by Marriott, a World Trade Center and the upcoming Ritz-Carlton. They have collaborated with marquee names such as French designer Philippe Starck to construct a luxury condo—yoopune—and Britain’s influential style guru Kelly Hoppen for the luxury yoovillas. A super-luxury hotel in the Maldives is their first overseas venture.

Diversified business interests earned them a spot in Fortune Magazine’s list of India’s 100 richest people. Yet, Atul and Sagar Chordia remain elusive; often opting to stay away from the media glare. We catch up with the duo at the Panchshil headquarters in Pune, where the real estate moguls open up about their journey so far, their private lives and their much talked-about association with the Trump Organization.

At the start