{"id":375220,"date":"2026-10-16T22:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T22:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/375220\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T22:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T22:44:12","slug":"here-are-the-winners-and-losers-of-the-plaza-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/375220\/","title":{"rendered":"Here are the winners and losers of The Plaza shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Plaza Hotel will shut its doors<\/a> for at least four years starting in January 2027 , with operator Fairmont Hotels and Resorts saying the 18-story Fifth Avenue landmark needs a top-to-bottom restoration of its historic facade. City Buildings inspectors found the facade unsafe in their latest review, the reason a sidewalk shed already hugs the building.<\/p>\n

The news ricocheted far beyond Manhattan within hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up this morning to many, many messages of, is this true? Is this happening? Did you hear this?\u201d Julie Estes, founder of event production firm SOP House, who has worked events at the Plaza since 2007, told The Post. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just the most iconic hotel in New York. It\u2019s the most iconic hotel in the world,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

So who comes out ahead, and who gets stuck holding the bag? The Post breaks it down.<\/p>\n

The Plaza Hotel will close in January 2027 for at least four years so its operator, Fairmont, can restore the landmark\u2019s deteriorating facade, which city inspectors recently flagged as unsafe. NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

THE WINNERS<\/p>\n

The Waldorf Astoria<\/p>\n

The exterior of the renovated and newly opened Waldorf Astoria. Joe Thomas<\/p>\n

Talk about timing. The other legend, located on Park Avenue, reopened last year <\/a>after a closure dating to 2017 and a makeover<\/a> pegged at roughly $2 billion , and it now looks like the default destination for anyone who had their heart set on the Plaza.<\/p>\n

Leslie Wilson, senior EVP and managing director at Douglas Elliman Development Marketing, sounded downright bullish.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith The Plaza preparing to close for an extended period, we expect renewed attention on New York\u2019s historic luxury properties with high levels of hotel services,\u201d Wilson said, calling the Waldorf \u201ca unique combination<\/a> of residential living and world-class hospitality that few properties can replicate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pierre, the Mandarin and the old-guard ballrooms<\/p>\n

Couples chasing white-glove, Gilded Age glamour have other places to turn, and Estes rattled off a short list.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pierre is right next to the plaza and it has a wonderful history in the city,\u201d she said. For something sleeker nearby, \u201cthe Mandarin\u2019s really close by as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rainbow Room landmark restaurant, which opened in 1934 during the Great Depression and is now owned by Harry Cipriani, is located on the 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza at Rockefeller Center. Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n

She also pointed to the Rainbow Room, which she described as \u201canother fantastic, iconic ballroom in our city that has gorgeous views,\u201d along with Cipriani\u2019s grand halls on 42nd Street, Wall Street, Broadway and South Street. Some of those rooms are smaller, but they carry the same pedigree, she said.<\/p>\n

Pricing shouldn\u2019t scare off Plaza defectors either. Venue minimums plus catering tabs land in roughly the same territory across the top tier, Estes said, because \u201cthey\u2019re all of a similar caliber.\u201d A typical wedding at these venues runs $250,000 to $500,000.<\/p>\n

And Aman New York, the hushed luxury retreat inside the Crown Building a few blocks down Fifth, sits ready to absorb deep-pocketed guests who would otherwise have checked in across from Central Park.<\/p>\n

Billionaires\u2019 Row and Central Park South<\/p>\n

Douglas Elliman\u2019s Michael Passaro, who has brokered numerous deals inside The Plaza, expects buyers to drift to the supertalls along 57th Street and the towers of Central Park South.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think many people are gonna be too thrilled about going to look at The Plaza in the near future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bargain hunters<\/p>\n

A condo at The Plaza hotel last asking $23 million. Rich Caplan<\/p>\n

Roughly 29 Plaza condos are already on the market, Passaro said, and he suspects a few more owners are quietly shopping theirs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it is going to be difficult to sell in the building over the next couple years,\u201d he said, predicting that \u201cbuyers will be able to find deals from certain sellers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNegotiability, I think it\u2019s just gone up for anybody that\u2019s looking possibly to purchase in the building,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Owners who can wait it out<\/p>\n

Patience could pay off. \u201cThey\u2019ll have a fully restored facade that protects the building\u2019s values for decades,\u201d Passaro said of long-haul owners, who could cash in big once a polished Plaza reopens.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a short-term inconvenience for a long-term gain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

THE LOSERS<\/p>\n

Brides and party planners<\/p>\n

Anne Hathaway, left, and Kate Hudson appear in a scene from the 2009 film \u201cBride Wars,\u201d set at the Plaza Hotel. 20thCentFox\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

Weddings at venues like this are often locked in six months to a year or more ahead, according to Estes, since the venue is the first thing couples nail down. That leaves plenty of 2027 celebrations suddenly homeless.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople dream of having a wedding or an event there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The silver lining, she said, is that the high-end vendors who work Plaza events tend to rally when a venue falls through. \u201cThey band together and they shift and really work as a team to make the change as easy and smooth as possible for the client,\u201d Estes said.<\/p>\n

The staff<\/p>\n

Bellhops and a doorman wait to greet guests at The Plaza Hotel. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council said in a statement that the 378 members working at the hotel will be able to return to their jobs at the same pay when it reopens. Four years is still a long time to wait.<\/p>\n

Estes said the fate of longtime employees, including the hotel\u2019s in-house CPS Events team that books every gala and wedding, is the industry\u2019s top talking point. Staff had heard \u201cthere were some rumblings,\u201d she said, but \u201cI think the actual announcement of it was rather sudden.\u201d<\/p>\n

She offered one bright spot. \u201cI think it\u2019s a really great time to be looking for an opportunity or a position in the industry,\u201d Estes said.<\/p>\n

Condo owners and renters<\/p>\n

Maira Nazarbayev inside a contested Plaza Hotel condo. Chad Rachman\/New York Post<\/p>\n

The residents of the Plaza\u2019s 181 condos\u00a0aren\u2019t being forced out, according to Passaro, whose clients in the building checked with management and doormen. But they will lose the hotel amenities and services, plus live behind scaffolding for years.<\/p>\n

Gone too, Passaro said, is \u201cthe vibe and the energy of such an iconic property.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selling won\u2019t be easy. Passaro closed a $10.625 million sale in the building in February 2025, and the buyer relisted the apartment about a year later. Many units haven\u2019t been updated since the condos first hit the market two decades ago, and buyers balk at gut jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a little bit of a challenge to get people excited about doing a renovation because obviously the costs have gone up drastically,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Tourists and holiday diehards<\/p>\n

Tourists at the Plaza Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Out-of-towners who planned a pilgrimage to the hotel where Macaulay Culkin\u2019s Kevin McCallister famously checked in on his dad\u2019s credit card in \u201cHome Alone 2\u201d \u00a0have one last window. Passaro expects the hotel to be mobbed through the holidays as New Yorkers and visitors grab a farewell cocktail at the Palm Court.<\/p>\n

As for when the doors reopen, even the brokers are hedging. Four years could easily stretch to five or six, Passaro said, adding that \u201cnobody knows.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Plaza Hotel will shut its doors for at least four years starting in January 2027 , with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3968,58294,6494,12565,2499,68859,68,810,5151,2365,9,24,55,54,56,19844,1491,6338,3006,138051,31249,13942,1826,19033,6496],"class_list":["post-375220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-billionaires","tag-billions","tag-brides","tag-christmas","tag-condos","tag-doormen","tag-exclusive","tag-hotels","tag-luxury-development","tag-luxury-hotels","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-plaza-hotel","tag-real-estate","tag-renovations","tag-residential-real-estate","tag-staffer","tag-the-plaza-hotel","tag-tourists","tag-waldorf-astoria","tag-wealthy","tag-weddings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}