Elad's purchase of New York City's Plaza Hotel caused great controversy in 2004. But as the hotel was readied for opening on March 1, 2008, "The New York Times" observed, Tshuva and Peter Ward, president of the New York's hotel workers' union, had reconciled their differences: "It was a big change from early 2005, when Mr. Ward vowed to block Mr. Tshuva's plans to convert most of the hotel into luxury condos and reconfigure some of its Edwardian public spaces into upscale shops, moves he contended would force union members out of work".