The Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue is close to getting new fashionable partners.
Sources tell Page Six exclusively that hotelier Vikram Chatwal is nearing a deal to take over the historic hotel and bring in designer Tommy Hilfiger and restaurateur Sean Largotta as partners. We hear billionaire Chatwal is taking a 30 percent stake in the 105-year-old landmark, and is said to be looking at Hilfiger, who lives in The Plaza with his wife, Dee, and Largotta, whose properties include The Windsor and clubby watering holes The Lion and Crown, to partner on the famed Oak Room.
In July, former Plaza owner the Elad Group sold its 70 percent stake in the hotel to the Indian-based Sahara Group for close to $600 million. The Sahara Group also bought an 85 percent stake in the Dream Downtown hotel last spring from Chatwal’s father, Sant Singh Chatwal.
Vikram Chatwal told us last night, “The deal will close in the next couple of weeks. There have been a lot of changes at The Plaza over the years and we want to restore the history and the cultural symbolism of this treasure of New York real estate.”
The Chatwals still manage the Dream and sources say talks are ongoing with Fairmont, which currently manages The Plaza, for the Chatwals to take over management once the deal is done.