New Plaza owner retains Fairmont to manage hotel

Real Estate Weekly, Nov 3, 2004

New Plaza hotel owner Miki Naftali, president and CEO of Manhattan-based Elad Properties, has announced that Fairmont Hotels & Resorts will continue to manage the landmark 805-room property at Fifth Avenue at Central Park South.

"We're not going to fix what isn't broken," asserted Mr. Naftali, who said that he was retaining Fairmont because "the company has done an outstanding job" in managing the legendary hotel over the past nine years.

"Our long-term goal is to bring The Plaza to a new level of quality and service and I believe Fairmont has the experience and expertise to help us achieve that objective," he added.

Mr. Naftali said the new ownership of The Plaza was currently studying various plans "to significantly upgrade and reenergize" the property.

"We have the financial resources as well as the motivation and commitment to make meaningful and positive change that can successfully bring The Plaza into the 21st century," he stated. He said he would announce those plans as soon as they are finalized.

Completed and opened in October 1907 at a then astounding cost of $12.5 million, The Plaza was recently purchased by Elad Properties for $675 million from Singapore-based Millennium & Copthorne Hotels and HRH Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The transaction closed on October 14.

The seller, Plaza Operating Partners, a partnership of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc and Kingdom Investments, purchased the Plaza in 1995 for $325 million from an entity owned by Donald Trump.

Cushman & Wakefield's Capital Markets Group arranged the sate, with Scott Latham and Yoav Oelsner heading the New York team for this transaction. According to Mr. Latham, the new ownership plans to restore the Plaza to its original grandeur.