Gates set up a brokerage office in the hotel's main lobby for his son, Charlie, and an experienced stockbroker. He speculated on Wall Street from there. In early 1907, when Gates realized that the market would be headed for a sharp downturn, he closed the offices of Charles G. Gates and Company, announcing he was done with Wall Street for good. Gates also changed his New York residence in May of the same year. He had purchased a substantial number of shares in the United States Realty Company, which had built New York's Plaza Hotel and was able to design his own 16 room apartment at the Plaza.