NYT: The Plaza Says It'll Be History After April 30

[kskiska]

The Plaza Hotel, where the fictional character Eloise romped through the corridors inside and the fiction writer F. Scott Fitzgerald romped in the fountain outside, sent the union representing its workers a letter this week making official the timetable for the hotel's closing. No one will romp at the Plaza after April 30.

The real estate company that owns the Plaza says it will become a construction site on its way to becoming condominiums and stores with a far smaller hotel on the 58th Street side.

The hotel has called all guests who had reservations for later than April 30 to let them know they cannot stay there, said Miki Naftali, the president and chief executive of Elad Properties, the Plaza's owner.

The letter to the union, the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, which has organized a "Save the Plaza" campaign, said that 864 workers would lose their jobs "on or about April 30."

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/05/nyregion/05plaza.html?ex=1110690000&en=7a10519e3c657bf0&ei=5070

[flamingyouth]

1. That's horrible!

:(

[Fenris]

2. Manhattan really needs more stores and condos.

:eyes:

[leveymg]

3. Let me guess, Donald Trump strikes again: "You're fired" to 864 people.

Then, they'll turn the bar at the Sherry Netherlands into a Starbucks.

Central Park is next. Naming rights first. Any suggestions?

[cosmicdot]

4. the crown jewel of Manhattan's Fifth Avenue

so sad that nothing seems to last in America ...

I don't have much except for a few random memories ... but, glad, now, that I got to go to the Plaza's once-upon-a-time-famed Persian Room (saw singer John Davidson) in the early 1970s; and, got to eat Easter Brunch in the Palm Court in the 1980s ...

"On August 14, 2004, an article by James Barron in The New York Times reported that the hotel was being sold for $675 million to Elad Properties by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud of Saudi Arabia and Millennium & Copthorne, a London-based company that runs hotels in 18 countries. The sellers had acquired the hotel from Donald J. Trump for $325 million."
http://www.thecityreview.com/plaza.html



the Connaught in London and old hotels of "Old Europe" are still going

[saracat]

OMG. Not where the Beatles stayed. I used to hang out in that bar ! Sigh.

wonderful hotel, a piece of history. Anyone who was anyone stayed there. How can they do this. Is anyone protesting?

[Catchawave]

8. I found a petition...

http://www.friendsoftheplaza.com/pages/2/index.htm

[Catchawave]

5. What a shame....

...it's such a beautiful building! I thought a law was passed about ripping down historic buildings, which was sparked by the outrage of tearing down the original Madison Square Garden?

[AirAmFan]

9. Click on the NY Times link in the original post. Only the facade has

historic protection at the moment, thought the union belatedly is seeking landmark status for the interiors as well.

Most likely, as demolition and construction proceed, you'll see a temporary six-foot wall of girders supporting the outside walls facing Fifth Avenue and Central Park South.

[gaia_gardener]

10. Are you sure they're ripping it down?

It almost sounded like they were refurbishing it - knocking out walls, covering up doors, etc to make condos out of the existing space.

[AirAmFan]

6. Real-estate greed at its worst. This may be an early "sell" signal for

people who've bought Manhattan condos and co-ops, it's so over-the-top.

Manhattan residential apartment prices are deeply cyclical, generally taking about a decade to go up and then back down. Since the last cycle low was at the end of the 80's, a deep correction is overdue. But I'm not going to feel very sorry for most of the Republicans who are going to lose most of the millions they've paid for way-overpriced apartments.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. Frank Lloyd Wright's preferred accomodation in NY

it was the only place he would stay in New York City so that he wouldn't have to look at any of the buildings he so despised (including the P{laza) , but had the natural beauty of Central Park instead.

It certainly is a grand place. I for one will miss it.

[Minstrel Boy]

11. Dammit!

We honeymooned there. And even when I haven't stayed there on a visit, I love that place.

[TreasonousBastard]

12. Is nothing sacred?

It is old news around here. Trump, as usual, lost a bundle when he renovated and then sold it.

Just not enough rooms in that building to make the revenue RE people want in that location.

[dflprincess]

13. But one of my fantatsies

is to stay at the Plaza someday - even if just for one night. Can't they get this declared a historic site? Didn't the Algonquin got protected that way?

[housewolf]

14. This is so sad...

The Plaza Hotel is a beautiful, classic hotel in NYC, I've always dreamed of staying there.

I had Thanksgiving Dinner there one year, in about 1982, was most elegant and lovely. It will always be a fond memory.


So sorry for the staff....

[flyarm]

15. nooooooo joe say it ain't sooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my favorite place for high tea ..and for xmas , and staying ther ein the summer and looking over c park!!

but honestly i stayed in a suite there last yr..for hubbys business trip and the rooms are run down..no attention has been taken since ivana did it...it was really getting shoddy..the rooms i mean..sinks chipped , broken faucets , bedding shoddy now...trump has paid no attention to the upkeep ..or whoever was in charge...trump should have fired someone in charge awhile ago..to let it go down like the rooms have been the past couple years.
they were beautiful..but it takes alot of upkeep to keep an exquiste antique like that hotel up to snuff!!
i will cry if they take her down..i loved tea in the afternoon there..it was my favorite thing to do in ny!!

a sad fly

[bear425]

16. My only real visit to New York was last year and I

enjoyed an $8 draft beer and my friend enjoyed a $15 shot of tequila at the Plaza. (ok, it was chilled and in a snifter, but it was still just a shot) Yummy.