Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Poor Little Rich Residents of the Plaza Hotel
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 18, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 18, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The NY Times' Styles section describes the lonely existence of new residents of the Plaza Hotel condos. Why lonely? Well, if you can afford the pricey digs ($6,400 per square foot!; an owner interviewed paid $5.8 million for a two bedroom), your neighbors are also rich people who probably have other residences and don't live there very often.
In other words, does the Times seriously expect us to feel sorry for these people? Maybe a little: "Like anyone else, they long for a community, albeit a community of the megawealthy." Elad Properties, which owns the Plaza and has been busy renovating it, confirmed "Only a half-dozen residents live there full time and another three dozen residents live there on weekends." Oh, boo-hoo - these people could totally pay their friends to hang out with them there!
You also can laugh or cry (or both) at one family, who owns two apartments in the building and whose younger members have found the Plaza to be lacking. Apparently the owners encouraged their 17-year-old grandson to stay there, a la Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, but he ended up hanging out with the security guards and turning in early, explaining, "It was a little bit spooky because it was totally dead. It was this huge hotel, and I was the only one up there.” Uh, it's not a hotel, it's not Melrose Place, it's an expensive apartment building.
And then his sister Kelley, who had transferred to Columbia, moved into the apartment because she was lonely (!) in Columbia's dorm housing (Kelley's roommate spent time at her boyfriend's). After being dubbed Eloise by the doormen, she "transferred back a shoe-box-size room at the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house" at UCLA. No word on whether her grandparents wanted Kelley to have an tearful encounter with an ex outside the Plaza, a la The Way We Were or Sex and the City.
Here's the website for either hotel condominium residents or private residence condominiums at the Plaza. And the Plaza Hotel will reopen on March 1, after its $400 million renovation.
Tagged
city
Elad Properties
eloise
home alone
home alone 2
lost
macaulay culkin
melrose place
new york
ny times
Plaza Hotel
residences
rich people
sex
The NY
the ny times
The Way
the way we were
UCLA
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Gatorade recall affects drinks sold in New York and New Jersey
More than 122,000 cases are being recalled over undeclared food dyes.
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Oct 5, 2026 at 4:36 p.m. ET
Gov. Hochul declares upstate NY measles outbreak a ‘disaster emergency’
The declaration is driven by rising case counts in rural areas and in neighboring Pennsylvania.
By
Caroline Lewis
News
Gov. Hochul declares upstate NY measles outbreak a ‘disaster emergency’
The declaration is driven by rising case counts in rural areas and in neighboring Pennsylvania.
By
Caroline Lewis
NYPD detective forced to retire after false statements in Brooklyn investigation
By
Charles Lane
Mamdani faces pressure to forge ahead with plan to fix polluting South Bronx market
By
Elizabeth Kim
Dominican man who shot border patrol officer in NYC sentenced to 15 years in prison
By
Samantha Max
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .