The Plaza hotel has been sold to a new owner, and part or all of the fabled playground of the rich and famous may be turned into luxury condos.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Singapore-based Millennium & Copthorne Hotels yesterday disclosed their sale of the Central Park South landmark for $675 million to condo and real estate developer Elad Properties NY, LLC.
“The hotel needs renovation, and I don’t want to spend money anymore,” said Millennium chairman Kwek Leng Beng.
The price comes to more than $800,000 for each of The Plaza’s rooms, an apparent record for a New York hotel.
Elad Properties also recently bought the Gift Building at 225 Fifth Ave., which it plans to convert from offices to apartments. Elad chief executive Miki Naftali didn’t return calls.
It wasn’t clear how many of the 18 floors of The Plaza would become condos. But brokers said six-room apartments might sell for up to $20 million apiece – or about $4,000 per square foot, one of the highest per-square-foot price tags in town.
The Plaza’s previous owner, developer Donald Trump, told The Post he was caught by surprise over the sale and had no idea the place was losing money – about $1.9 million last year alone.
“No kidding,” Trump said from his plane. “That’s one I did well with. It’s a wonderful building.”
Trump had set up parts of the hotel for condo conversion himself during his reign there from 1988 to 1995, but sold The Plaza for $325 million before he ever converted any of its 808 rooms.
The city Landmarks Preservation Commission approved his condo-conversion plan for several upper floors of The Plaza, a right that carries over to the new owners.
Insiders said the new owners will continue to operate most of The Plaza as a hotel when the deal closes later this year, and carry out the conversions and badly-needed renovations in stages so that The Plaza remains open while work goes on.
The Plaza was built in 1907 for $12 million, and for decades served only as a residential hotel for the city’s gilded class, such as the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and Guggenheims.
Other big-name regulars included Frank Lloyd Wright, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Darryl Zanuck and Maria Callas.
Among its latter-day celebrity events was the gala wedding of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
The Plaza has been the setting for scenes in many movies including “The Great Gatsby,” “Home Alone 2” and “The Way We Were.”
It was the basis of Neil Simon’s Broadway play “Plaza Suite.”
QUALITY INN
Opened: 1907
Cost to build: $12 million.
Just to sold for: $675 million
First guest: Tycoon Alfred Vanderbilt
Top room rate: $15,000 for penthouse duplex
Movies filmed at the hotel: 40
Converted six-room condo would sell for: $20 million
Notable regulars: Bob Hope, JFK, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Darryl Zanuck, The Beatles, Judy Garland
