Historic, Five-Star Hotel Set To Hit Auction In April
The Plaza Hotel is set to hit the market next month, kicking off a new era of ownership in the property’s long history after two years of uncertainty.
Billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben hold the hotel’s mortgage, and have scheduled a foreclosure auction for April 26, sources told Bloomberg.
The Reubens bought the loan from Bank of China after the property’s current majority owner, Sahara India Pariwar, defaulted last year. Sahara is controlled by Subrata Roy, who is serving time in India for defrauding investors.
The deal is for the Plaza’s hotel rooms, restaurants and retail space, and is being sold as a package deal along with the Dream Downtown hotel in Chelsea.
The two hotels are the collateral for Bank of China’s loan, worth about $500M.
Hotels and other trophy properties in the New York market have seen a massive spike in interest and several huge deals lately. For example, last year China’s Anbang Insurance Group bought the Waldorf Astoria for $1.95B, and this month picked up Strategic Hotels & Resorts for $6.5B. [Bloomberg]
