The Plaza by Julie Satow

Author:Julie Satow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2019-06-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

THE PRINCE AND THE BILLIONAIRE

“Owning a luxury hotel today is a little like owning a baseball team. It gives super-affluent guys an enormous amount of exposure.”

—Daniel Neidich, banker

Abraham Wallach, a Trump executive and a faithful foot soldier, was determined to save his boss’s favorite property. The Plaza was now bankrupt, and its creditors were anxious to sell the hotel to recoup at least some of their original investment. It was a race to the finish. If Citibank and the other lenders found a buyer for the Plaza, Trump would lose the property. But if Trump could identify a buyer first, he might convince that person to let him continue managing the hotel or, perhaps, give him the go-ahead to complete his Plaza penthouses. Wallach was resolute that Trump would triumph.

Wallach’s most promising lead was Sun Hung Kai & Co., one of China’s largest property investment companies. It was run by the three Kwok brothers, who were among the richest families in all of Asia.1 Walter Kwok, the eldest brother, was sufficiently intrigued at the prospect of purchasing the Plaza to come for a visit. With his wife, Wendy, and their children in tow, the family was put up in the lavish Presidential Suite, the former home of Harry Black, which Ivana had refurbished. Over the course of several days, Wallach and Trump wooed the Kwoks, Wallach accompanying Wendy on shopping sprees while Trump took Walter on golf outings.

One morning, Wallach arrived to pick up the Kwoks for a day of sightseeing. He nodded to the private security guard who had been hired by the family to stand sentry outside the suite’s entrance, and then knocked on the door. There was no answer, so the security guard also knocked. When there was still no answer, the guard called on his walkie-talkie to another guard stationed inside the rooms. He radioed back to say that the family was stuck inside—the door had jammed. Wallach and the guard tried pushing and pulling the ancient door free from its sticky hinges. It refused to budge. As panic set in, Wallach called down to hotel security. Several men arrived with hatchets, which they used to break down the jammed door, after which the traumatized family rushed out in relief.

Wallach took the shaken guests downstairs for tea. “We’re in the Palm Court, and there’s a violinist playing Viennese waltzes and I started to talk to them, apologizing profusely,” Wallach told me. “I know what’s coming, so I’m listening to the Strauss waltzes and I said, ‘I could start to cry right now.’” Wallach held back tears as he watched his dream of selling the Plaza to the Kwoks evaporate. Walter, his arm around his distressed wife, told him that the Plaza was too old, and it would cost too much to renovate. There was simply no way to justify buying the hotel under these circumstances. Wallach nodded in understanding. After he left the Kwoks, Wallach dejectedly walked the few blocks to Trump Tower to relay the bad news.

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