Plaza Hotel to Close Four Years for Landmark Facade Restoration

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts will close The Plaza Hotel to guests for four years starting in January 2027, shutting the Palm Court restaurant and the hotel’s event spaces so crews can restore the 119-year-old landmark facade.

Why it matters

The closure is a regulatory obligation, not a renovation choice. Under an agreement with the City Planning Commission, ownership must restore the historic facades, roof and landmarked interior spaces, on top of the citywide Facade Inspection Safety Program under Local Law 11, which requires periodic inspection of buildings over six stories. For an owner of an occupied landmark asset this size, that means sequencing years of exterior work around a running hotel, a live event calendar and condominium owners sharing the same building, all before a cost figure or contractor is made public. New York has few hotels of this scale facing a facade mandate at once, and a full shutdown rather than phased work is the approach other landmark owners will be measured against.

The numbers

Four years is the stated closure length, running from a last day of service on Jan. 19, 2027, with construction starting Jan. 20. The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council puts union staff at 378, with a right-to-return pledge at existing pay; NY1, citing the New York Times, separately reports “more than 300” employees without a union breakdown, so the two counts do not fully reconcile. The building holds 181 condominium units, and neither report says whether residents must vacate during construction. The structure is 119 years old, designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, and last closed for three years during the 2005-2008 condo conversion. Cost and funding for the new restoration have not been disclosed by either source, so no per-square-foot figure can be computed.

What’s next

Fairmont and owner Katara Hospitality have not released a reopening date, a construction scope, or a plan for event bookings already on the calendar, including at least one wedding booked for May 2027. Four years out from the Jan. 20, 2027 start marks January 2031 as the earliest possible return, a calculation from the stated closure length, not a confirmed date from either source. Operators of other landmark-designated hotels and residential towers facing Local Law 11 cycles should expect the same sequence: a regulatory deadline and a closure window announced well before the construction plan or its cost is public.