Update: The Plaza Closing April 30

[PamOKW]

I posted the update on my original post at the top of this thread. If I come across a link that is "open" I will add that.

 

[LakeAriel]

When I'm wrong I'm wrong!
This is indeed sad news to New Yorkers. This is part of New York! First they closed FAO Schwartz. (there was always an item to buy for $10) Just to walk through there at Christmas was an unbelievable treat for kids of all ages. They reopened recently minus the famous clock tower. 5 years ago I rented three rooms at the Plaza for my daughter's Sweet 16 party. We had dinner at Planet Hollywood, where I had a cake and balloons delivered. We then walked around the city and went back to our rooms. Due to overbooking two of the rooms were upgraded, one to a Jr suite and one to a regular suite. My husband and I (the chaperones) stayed in the smaller room. 16 girls at the Plaza on January 16 overlooking Central Park. It was the most memorable experience of her life. Everyone was having Sweet 16 parties that were like weddings. We couldn't afford it, this cost me $1100! We even bought an "Eloise at the Plaza" book and they all signed it. I used to recommend it to all my friends for a special event. Never again, goodbye Plaza Hotel!

 

[PamOKW]

It is a shame -- like you said another piece of history. The new owners don't seem to have any regard for the "history" -- they even commented about how The Plaza is coasting on it's reputation and has been surpassed by other hotels. They just wanted the prime real estate. I thinkthe emphasis will be far more on "residents" than "guests" in the future so I doubt they will rejoin the Concierge Collection. It would be nice if DVC could add a hotel (other than the Shelburne) to the mix.

 

[living la vida mickey]

Here's the NY Times article. This is sad. We spent our honeymoon at the Plaza 35 years ago and have gone back often. December 2003 was our last trip there. We have beautiful memories of a wonderful place.






Condos and Stores Planned for Plaza
By JAMES BARRON

Published: January 26, 2005


he Plaza Hotel, where F. Scott Fitzgerald drank and Alfred Hitchcock directed and Truman Capote held sway and Eloise romped, will close by April 30 to be divided into three parts - condominiums, stores and a much smaller hotel.

Confirming rumors that had swirled in real estate circles for months, the real estate developer who bought the Plaza last fall said yesterday that the 805-room hotel would be turned into a multipurpose building.

The developer, Miki Naftali, president and chief executive of Elad Properties, said he was planning 200 one- to four-bedroom condos, mainly on the Plaza's upper floors, facing Fifth Avenue and Central Park South. He said that a hotel with 150 rooms, just under a fifth the number the Plaza has now, would occupy much of the 58th Street side of the building.

The ornate Grand Ballroom and the multilevel Terrace Room - where countless cocktail parties and galas and wedding receptions have been held over the years - would be turned into space for stores. Two subbasement levels will also be renovated for retailers, he said.

But some of the Plaza's most visible and venerable public spaces will reopen after being given nothing more than what he called cosmetic touchups: the Palm Court, the airy centerpiece of the lobby; the restaurant at the building's northeast corner that was long known as the Edwardian Room (and closed after being renamed One CPS); and the Oak Room and the Oak Bar, with their dark-paneled walls. But the restaurants will be operated separately from the hotel and are likely to be turned over to outside restaurateurs.

Mr. Naftali's company, which is owned by Yitzhak Tshuva, an Israeli developer, paid $675 million for the Plaza. Mr. Naftali said the renovation would cost at least $100 million.

The Plaza's fortresslike exterior was designated a city landmark in 1969. Its interior has never been given landmark status.

"It's not that we feel we're restricted" because it has landmark status, Mr. Naftali said, "we can't think of changing it. I don't need to put huge signage on the building to call people to come in."

Officials of the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission said that any interior designation would have covered only the public spaces - not the individual rooms, which Mr. Naftali and his architects want to combine to make larger apartments in the condominium.

The developer's team also envisions relocating bathrooms and installing kitchens, although he said that one reason to live there would be to order takeout meals from the restaurants in the lobby.

"Our plan is to keep the integrity of the spaces," Mr. Naftali said. "The challenge is to refresh the space."

He said that the Plaza, which opened in 1907, was "worn down" and needed to be brought up to modern standards. "It's amazing people think it's one of the best hotels in the world," he said. "It's not. But look at the space."

Mr. Naftali said the renovations would begin as soon as the Plaza closes and the employees are laid off. He said the hotel had already given 60 days' notice to 176 workers in the Oak Room, the Oyster Bar and adjacent kitchen areas.

The hotel's 800 or so other employees will receive formal notification, as required by the Plaza's contract with the hotel workers union, by the end of February. But Mr. Naftali said managers had already begun telling those workers that the hotel would shut down in the spring.

Peter Ward, president of the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, said he had met with Mr. Naftali and was concerned about the loss of so many jobs. "We're working toward resolution of an exit agreement," Mr. Ward said.

As Mr. Naftali sees it, the Plaza's registration area, on the Central Park South side of the first floor, will serve as the entrance to the condos. The new hotel will be reached from the Rose Room, a high-ceilinged space that once housed a nightclub off the hotel's Fifth Avenue lobby.

"When you walk through the Plaza and you see so many gorgeous rooms," Mr. Naftali said, "we thought, 'how could we convert those spaces to residential?' We are keeping the integrity of those famous rooms."

Robert B. Tierney, chairman of the Landmarks Commission, said that part of Mr. Naftali's plan for the building "raises enough questions that we'd have to take a look at it."

 

[keenercam]

The Plaza is indeed closing and our May reservation was cancelled. MS gave us the option of moving to the Shellburne Murray Hill or cancelling, with a return of the $95 exchange fee and a return of borrowed points to their original use year. We re-scheduled to the SMH and it looks quite nice. It was fewer points for a 1BR suite than the Plaza had been for a "regular" room.

 

[PamOKW]

Keenercam, glad it worked out. (I don't blame you for not believing me -- it is pretty unbelievable news). I was wondering if MS would offer to put the points back to DVC points -- seems like offering to do that would be the fairest thing to do. I've heard good reports about the Shelburne -- it's more of a business hotel where you can stay for extended periods but they also have lots of regular tourist guests. I think you'll enjoy it.

 

[keenercam]

Thanks, Pam. The SMH looks quite nice and they get BIG points in my book because they have a generous pet guest policy, with complimentary treats, "sidewalk bags", and food and water bowls in the rooms. If we were going for more than 1 night, I'd consider taking my furbaby! WE won't be spending much time at the hotel anyway, we are going in Saturday morning, seeing B&B at a matinee and LK in the evening, meeting friends for brunch Sunday a.m. and then coming home. I am hoping we are actually at the hotel long enough to enjoy it. I definitely like the idea of a separate bedroom, and a sleeper sofa in the living room.