The Plaza originally opened in 1907 and is a 130-room hotel overlooking Central Park in New York. The hotel also contains 153 condominium units. Prince Alwaleed and partner Millennium & Copthorne acquired the Plaza in 1995 for $325 million. The acquisition was intended to expand the Fairmont brand in the United States by securing a landmark hotel in New York for it to manage. In 2004, Prince Alwaleed agreed to sell the Plaza for $675 million, primarily because his partner wanted to exit the investment. The purchaser had plans to convert the former 805-room hotel into a smaller hotel with 180 new residential condominiums for sale and 153 new hotel condominium units. While selling the hotel, the Prince approached the purchaser to discuss a reinvestment in the Plaza and he negotiated the acquisition of a 49.9 percent interest in the Plaza Hotel and a 25 percent interest in the Plaza Condo Hotel.

The Plaza will serve as Fairmont's flagship hotel in North America. As a smaller hotel, the Plaza is expected to be able to achieve higher room rates than it has in the past. Through its interest in the hotel condominium component, KHC expects to realise value through the sale of interests in these units during the current favourable period for the New York property market. Purchasers of interests in the hotel condominiums are entitled to use their units during a certain number of days each year. When unoccupied, the units will be available for rent, with the Company and the other investors in the development of these units receiving a share of the rental income. In addition, Fairmont will receive fees for managing these condominium units.