Plaza Hotel Closing: Facade Filed 'Unsafe' Since 2022

The Plaza Hotel closing in January has been framed as a sudden, sentimental shock. New York City's building records tell a slower story. Facade inspection filings, made by inspectors the owner hires and recorded by the city, list the Plaza's exterior as Unsafe after inspections in February 2022 and September 2025, and permit records show a sidewalk shed has been permitted at 768 Fifth Avenue every year since November 2017. The new city fine aimed at long-standing sheds is capped at $6,000 a month for sheds standing four years or more, which works out to $72,000 a year, or about 0.012% of the $600 million the current owner paid for the hotel. But the city has not said how it counts a shed's age.

That gap matters because the city says it is not forcing the shutdown. The Department of Buildings (DOB) told CBS New York that its latest inspection found the facade unsafe, which is why a shed is required, but that nothing on the city's end would stop the hotel from staying open during repairs.

Why Is the Plaza Hotel Closing?

The hotel announced the closure on Wednesday, Oct. 14, in a Business Wire release that cited the "complexity of this undertaking and significant intrusion to operations." It said the hotel will close "for at least four years commencing January 2027" during work on its landmark-protected facade. The release gave no budget, contractor or reopening date. Fairmont operates the hotel, and Qatar's Katara Hospitality has owned it since 2018, paying $600 million, according to The Real Deal.

Town & Country reported that the last day of service is scheduled for Jan. 19, 2027. If the work runs on schedule, the hotel would reopen in 2031, according to NBC New York.

Two Unsafe Ratings in a Row Under Local Law 11

New York requires facade inspections every five years for buildings taller than six stories under the Facade Inspection and Safety Program, often called Local Law 11. A licensed inspector hired by the owner files one of three ratings, and the city records it: Safe; Safe With a Repair and Maintenance Program, known as SWARMP; or Unsafe, which requires protection such as a shed until repairs are made.

The city's facade compliance dataset, updated Oct. 16, 2026, shows the Plaza's history. The filings are made in the name of The Plaza Condominium, which covers both the hotel and the residences:

• Cycles 6 and 8, inspected in 2006 and 2017: SWARMP.
• Cycle 7, inspected in January 2012: Unsafe, changed to Safe by an amended report in July 2014, about two and a half years later.
• Cycle 9, inspected on Feb. 16, 2022 and filed on Feb. 22, 2022: Unsafe. No amended report clearing that rating appears in the data.
• Cycle 10, inspected on Sept. 24, 2025 and filed on Oct. 3, 2025 by Walker Consultants: Unsafe, with the prior status also listed as Unsafe.

Unsafe is the facade program's repair category, not a finding that guests are in danger. It is why a shed is required until the work is done. Nothing in the filings or in DOB's statements to CBS says guests are at risk, and DOB says nothing on its end forces a closing.

By the time the doors close on Jan. 19, the facade will have been listed as Unsafe for nearly five years.

The Plaza is not alone. Among 2,671 buildings with a cycle 10 status, 567 are listed as Unsafe, about 21%. Of those, 299 were also Unsafe in their prior cycle, as the Plaza was. Cycle 10 filings are still coming in, so totals will change.

Nine Years of Sidewalk Shed Permits at 768 Fifth Avenue

The city's approved permits dataset shows the first sidewalk shed permit for the building in its online system was issued on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2017. A shed permit has been issued or renewed every calendar year since.

The same records show the groundwork started well before October. A suspended scaffold permit described as "IRA to assist with Condition Assessment" was first issued on Aug. 21, 2024, then renewed on Dec. 9, 2025, and Feb. 27, 2026, and a second such job was permitted on Dec. 11, 2025.

The $6,000 Fine and What It Actually Costs

The "Get Sheds Down" laws signed on April 17, 2025, took effect on Jan. 12, 2026. Local Law 48 of 2025 cut shed permits to 90 days and set monthly penalties when no repair work is in progress. The rate depends on how long the shed has been "in existence": $10 per linear foot per month under three years, $100 for three to under four years, and $200 for four years or more. The $6,000 monthly cap is written only into the four-year tier. At $200 a foot, a shed only needs to be 30 feet long to hit it.

Under DOB's implementing rule, effective Aug. 13, 2026, the work requirement begins with the second renewal of a shed permit issued after Jan. 12, 2026. The Plaza's shed was renewed on Feb. 26, May 20 and Aug. 10, and the current term ends Nov. 8. NBC New York reported that fines could begin in January. The requirement could already apply to the Aug. 10 to Nov. 8 term, so Nov. 8 is the date to watch.

The rule does not define "in existence." The Plaza's current shed job was first permitted on Jan. 10, 2023, but sheds under earlier jobs go back to November 2017. If the city counts from January 2023, the shed sits in the $100 tier until Jan. 10, 2027, and a shed longer than 60 feet would owe more than $6,000 a month. TradeFlock does not know the shed's length.

The bigger stick does not appear to apply to the current shed job. Local Law 51 of 2025 adds penalties of $5,000 to $20,000 each for missed deadlines on repair drawings, permits and completion. They apply only where the initial shed permit was issued on or after Jan. 12, 2026, and the Plaza's current shed job was first permitted on Jan. 10, 2023. A new initial shed permit for the restoration would start those clocks.

Run the numbers and the fines look small if the cap applies: four years at $6,000 a month is $288,000, about 0.048% of Katara's purchase price. The hotel points to operations instead, citing "significant intrusion to operations," at a property that, according to Realtor.com, sells themed suites for as much as $20,000 a night.

Who Pays for the Plaza Closure

Workers carry the first bill. The hotel's 378 union members can return to their jobs at the same pay when it reopens, the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council has said. Four years without those paychecks adds up to 18,144 worker-months, by TradeFlock's count, if none of the 378 is placed elsewhere; Town & Country reports the union will try to find them other jobs. Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal told NBC New York the workers will keep benefits "but likely to be without wages for the entire duration."

The city loses room supply at the top of its market. NBC New York reported 282 guest rooms and 181 condo units. Counting hotel rooms only, 282 rooms over 1,461 nights from Jan. 19, 2027, to Jan. 19, 2031, is 412,002 room-nights of capacity taken off Fifth Avenue. The New York Post pointed to the reopened Waldorf Astoria as the default alternative for events. Luxury travelers have no shortage of options, as the latest world's best hotels ranking showed.

Condo owners stay, but the bill-splitting question is open. Residents will not be forced out, a broker told the Post, and owners are still investing: city records show July 28, 2026, permit renewals for two apartment combination jobs, estimated at $187,370 and $110,480, first approved in May 2023 and August 2024. Because the facade filings sit under the condominium, no party has said publicly how the repair bill is shared between the hotel unit and the residences.

A Longer Closure Than the Last Full Overhaul

The 2005 closure ran from April 2005 to March 2008, about 35 months, for a $450 million renovation, Town & Country reported. This one is at least 48 months for the exterior alone. Realtor.com reported that a 2006 City Planning Commission declaration requires the owner to keep the building restored "in perpetuity."

Council Member Virginia Maloney told NBC New York she had heard there are "only one or two suppliers" for the facade materials, and broker comments in the Post suggest four years could stretch to five or six. Watch the Nov. 8 shed renewal, any new initial shed permit, a Landmarks Preservation Commission application and construction filings. Other hotels are courting guests for the season, such as the Kimpton Surfcomber's fall Miami Beach lineup, while one of New York's most famous addresses goes dark.

Cover illustration: TradeFlock USA.