The first furniture auction at the Maksoud Plaza hotel should end this Monday (22) only in the early evening. Bidding rounds started at 10:00 am and by 3:30 pm less than half of the lots had been completed.
In all, 182 lots of different products were offered for sale through FCR Leilões. The public sale of movable assets was defined in the group’s judicial recovery plan and is being carried out virtually.
The Maksoud Plaza hotel operated in a 22-story building in an upscale area of the Bela Vista neighborhood, in São Paulo, close to Avenida Paulista. It was considered, for many years, an icon of hospitality – it had 372 rooms and 44 master suites.
The group filed for bankruptcy in September 2020 and closed its doors on December 7, 2021, taking guests, employees and heirs of Henry Maksoud, founder of the group, by surprise.
The first batches of furniture sold this Monday are chairs, armchairs, cabinets, refrigerators, coffee makers, an air-conditioned wine cellar and various items for professional kitchens: mixers, cold cuts, oven and sealing machine.
At the beginning of the afternoon, the rounds of sales of the lots of minibars began. The number of products in each round varies. There are some with 20 minibars and an initial bid of R$1,740, and another with 47 units, and an initial bid of R$4,089 (it was already at R$10,239 at 2:50 pm).
The list of furniture for sale corresponds to the size of Maksoud Plaza when it was still open. There are 796 mirrors, 700 beds and 565 mattresses in the hotel. The typical wooden bedside tables of hotels, with socket and lamp, reach 624 in just one lot, whose initial bid was R$ 4,524.
The first lots purchased were concluded with a goodwill favorable to Maksoud. A lot of 101 event chairs, whose initial bid was BRL 3,807.70, was finalized for BRL 47,407.70 after 47 bids.
The lot of 143 flowered armchairs was sold after 68 bids. Of the R$4,976.40 of the initial value, it ended up at R$95,476.40.
Whoever buys a lot from the Maksoud auction 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, according to 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 has yet to be scheduled for the sale of the works of art that decorated the hotel.
Maksoud lived at his peak until the 1990s
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 shambles,” he told Sheetin season.
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 dies of cardiac arrest.
The children Claudio and Roberto contest the will and start fighting over the estate
2015
Seeking to revitalize itself, the hotel opened the PanAm Club (in January) and the Frank Bar (in April)
2019
TST (Superior Labor Court) validates the hotel building auction
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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