The fire-ravaged lot of the former Plaza Hotel is changing hands, after the now-former owner decided they would not be able to make a hotel work with the height restrictions. What happened to the former Plaza Hotel? The Plaza Hotel had sat vacant for years before it burned down in May 2019. Its final iteration came in 1988, when it was renamed the Victoria Plaza. READ PREVIOUS: Century of memories up in smoke after Victoria Plaza Hotel fireBefore the fire that ultimately destroyed the building, it had sat vacant for six years.