Eloise’s prince has come through.
With a dramatic flourish, a New York real estate company and Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal have exercised their option and are buying the iconic Plaza Hotel, The Post has learned.
The global real estate company, Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., headed by Ben Ashkenazy and Michael Alpert, and the prince will pay a cool $600 million for the Central Park-adjacent hotel.
The deal trumps an offer from a different suitor group that has spent a week bragging about the purchase.
The out-of-luck suitors — global investor Shahal Khan along with local real estate developer Kamran Hakim — were aware that Ashkenazy and Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holdings had the option to match their $600 million and claim the prize hotel, sources said.
Just one year ago, in May 2017, The Post reported that Ashkenazy had purchased a controlling portion of the prince’s stake in the landmark hotel — and that the stake came with a right to match another bid.
The Plaza’s owners and current sellers, the Sahara Group and Vikram Chatwal, have been sorting out a variety of legal issues, including the jailing in India of Sahara CEO Subrata Roy on fraud charges.
JLL broker Jeffrey Davis obtained an arm’s-length bid for the hotel from Khan and Hakim, the Real Deal reported last week, making a $30 million deposit and lining up financing.
Alpert confirmed to The Post on Tuesday that his group had exercised their rights earlier this week to match the bid. The purchase of the hotel by Ashkenazy and the prince is expected to close this summer.
“The plan is to restore the splendor of The Plaza, which will include the redevelopment of the 100,000 contiguous square feet of retail, including the Oak Room,” Alpert said.
Past attempts at the redevelopment of the shops and food concepts have been muddied by slapdash renovations and poor execution, sources said.
Now, Alpert said, “We are actively working with leading brands around the world to accomplish the transformation.”
Ashkenazy has many relationships with brands through the ownership of a current retail portfolio that includes the buildings that house Barneys New York and Hermès on Madison Avenue plus Washington’s Union Station, Boston’s Faneuil Hall, Miami’s Bayside Marketplace, Baltimore’s Harbor Place and San Antonio’s Riverwalk.
Last year, Ashkenazy acquired the Grosvenor House in London from Sahara, as well as Boston’s Fairmont Copely Plaza. Ashkenazy is in contract to acquire two additional iconic hotel properties in North America, sources said.
“We are continuing to aggressively acquire large scale premier properties worldwide, across all product types. We have over $2 billion of equity specifically earmarked for the acquisition of iconic American and European landmark hotel and resort properties,” Alpert added.
In New York, Ashkenazy also owns the NYLO hotel as well as the office buildings at 625 and 635 Madison Ave.
As one of the wealthiest men in the world, Alwaleed has long held a 25 percent stake in The Plaza as well as a stake in Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, the Plaza’s operator, and has refused to allow another flag to manage the property.
