Chairs, beds, computers, mirrors, mattresses and industrial appliances, such as sealers, ovens, washing machines, electric treadmills and even various gym items that belong to the Maksoud Plaza group, owner of the hotel of the same name, began to be auctioned. To give you an idea, there are 796 mirrors, 700 beds and 565 mattresses in the hotel.
In all, 182 lots are part of the list of auction items, which began to receive bids on August 15, through FCR Leilões. According to the public notice, two rounds are foreseen, the so-called squares, when bids and eventual closings are verified.
The first square will be this Monday (22). Items without bids will be offered again and the second plaza auction will be on the 31st.
The sale through auction was defined in the judicial recovery process started in September 2020. The hotel, considered for years an icon of hospitality in São Paulo, closed its doors on December 7, 2021, taking guests, employees by surprise and heirs of Henry Maksoud, founder of the group.
The volume of products put up for auction corresponds to the size of Maksoud Plaza, which had 22 floors, 372 rooms and 44 main suites. The hotel had 350 employees.
Most lots provide for the purchase of more than one item. There are at least 11 lots with 100 chairs in each. The minibars, 127 in total, are distributed in 14 lots of varying quantities – some have 50 units, others have five.
According to the notice, those interested in the auction items will be able to schedule a day and time of visitation to personally look at the items put up for public sale. Whoever buys a lot of Maksoud will have 24 hours to make the payment, and 48 hours to withdraw what they bought.
Whoever places a bid and ends up giving up the purchase will be subject to a fine of 30% of the value of the proposal.
The money raised by the furniture auction, discounting 5% that will be paid to the auctioneer, will be used for the group’s cash flow, as defined in the restructuring plan defined in the judicial recovery.
Maksoud Plaza’s judicial recovery approved the holding of other auctions, such as apartments, land and part of commercial buildings that were part of the group’s assets. The building where the hotel used to be had already been purchased in a judicial auction resulting from the execution of a labor lawsuit.
A new auction is still to be scheduled for the sale of the works of art that decorated the hotel.
Opened in 1979, Maksoud Plaza lived its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, when it was remembered for being both a meeting point for artists and bohemians, and for being a relevant gastronomic and cultural center. The 24-hour bars and restaurants matched the imagery of a city that did not sleep.
The 150Night Club hosted, in addition to Sinatra, jazz and blues legends such as Etta James, Alberta Hunter, Bobby Short and Buddy Guy. At Trianon Piano Bar, the Peixoto, brothers of Cauby, rocked nights with a repertoire of jazz and bossa nova.
In the early 2000s, the glow began to fade. The economic crisis of the turn of the decade and the expansion of competition caused Maksoud Plaza to start a cycle of deep crisis. In 2003, when the hotel turned 25, Henry Maksoud, its founder, resented the difficulties. “The hotel industry is in ruins,” he told Folha at the time.
MOMENTS OF MAKSOUD PLAZA
1979
Inauguration of the Maksoud Plaza hotel
1981
Between August 13 and 16, Frank Sinatra stays at the hotel and performs at the 150Night Club
nineteen ninety
Former Hidroservice employee files a labor lawsuit to collect salary and reverse a just cause
1992
On December 9, singer Axl Rose, from Guns N’Roses, threw a chair from the mezzanine, at dawn, towards reporters who were on the ground floor.
2008
Maksoud Plaza building goes up for auction for the first time, but fails
Buyers withdraw after injunction suspended auction effects
The minimum bid was BRL 47.5 million at the time, around BRL 104.2 million today.
2011
In a new auction, the building was bought for the minimum bid of R$ 70 million, around R$ 153.6 million today
2013
Henry Maksoud steps away from hotel management, passing command to his grandson
2014
On April 18, Henry Maksoud died of cardiac arrest.
The children Claudio and Roberto contest the will and start a fight over the estate
2015
Seeking to revitalize itself, the hotel opened the PanAm Club (in January) and the Frank Bar (in April)
2019
TST validates the auction of the hotel building
2020
Under the impact of the pandemic, the group asks for judicial recovery on September 21
The list of creditors of the group companies has nine pages
In labor debt alone, there are 359 people to whom the group owes money
2021
On December 7, the hotel closes its doors, taking staff and guests by surprise
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