The Plaza Hotel Is For Sale: Report

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — One of New York City's most iconic pieces of real estate could be changing hands soon, as Indian business conglomerate the Sahara Group has hired a broker to offload The Plaza Hotel, according to reports.

JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group has been hired to help sell the luxury hotel, located on Fifth Avenue and Central Park South, the Wall Street Journal first reported. Real estate experts told the Wall Street Journal that the hotel could fetch more than $500 million on the open market.

A Sahara Group spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that a “sale is under process and it has not yet concluded.”

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The Plaza was once purchased for $675 million in 2004, but its value has since diminished. Since that sale most of the Plaza's best rooms facing Central Park have been converted into condos, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Plaza currently contains 282 guest rooms and 152 privately-owned residences, according to the report.

Recently, The Plaza garnered some bad press when six female employees filed a lawsuit in Bronx Supreme Court accusing the hotel of fostering a culture of sexual harassment.

Read the full Wall Street Journal article here.

Photo by George De Sota/Hulton Archive/Getty Images