The Plaza Hotel's financial woes may be worsening: Bloomberg Business reports that the storied hotel could be heading for the auction block, less than a year after billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben became involved in the hotel's long, strange saga.
The Reubens picked up the Plaza's enormous debt—about $800 million—from the Sahara Group, the Indian company that controls the hotel, though their role in the hotel's financial dealings and operations remained unclear. But according to Bloomberg's source, the brothers have decided that they no longer want the beleaguered hotel's mortgage, and have scheduled it for auction on April 26. The auction would include the Plaza's hotel rooms (the pricey condos within the building have a different owner), its retail spaces, and its restaurants, along with the Dream Downtown hotel, which is also controlled by Sahara Group.
If the rumor is true, it's just another part of the never-ending saga that is the Plaza's money troubles, which are varied and rather confusing. From Curbed's previous coverage:
The Sahara Group has been trying to sell the hotels for awhile to help get its chairman, Subrata Roy, out of jail in India (his bail is set at $1.6 billion). The Sahara Group defaulted last year on loans granted from the Bank of China, and earlier this year, the bank seized control of the Grosvenor House.
So there's that.
- New York's Plaza Hotel Up for Sale in Foreclosure Auction [Bloomberg Business]
- Billionaires Brothers Throw $800M At the Beleaguered Plaza [Curbed]
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