File photo of the Plaza Hotel in New York. [Photo/Agencies]

New York City's legendary Plaza Hotel has been acquired by the Sultan of Brunei, according to a source. It marks the second acquisition in two months of a famous New York hotel by a foreign-based buyer.

The Sultan acquired the Plaza's mortgage, said the source, who asked not to be identified and declined to reveal the amount of the mortgage.

The hotel, which is atthe corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street and overlooks Central Park,was being marketed by its current majority owner, the Sahara Group of India, which also is selling the Dream Downtown Hotel in Manhattan and the Grosvenor Hotel in London.

In October,China's Anbang Insurance Group Co said it would pay $1.95 billion to Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc for the 60,000-square-foot Waldorf Astoria, the largest amount ever for a US hotel, according to research firm Lodging Econometrics.

The Waldorf, which straddles Lexington and Park avenues, opened in 1931 as the tallest and largest hotel in the world, according to its website.

The Plaza was built in 1907 and was then known as the greatest hotel in the world. Before the Sahara Group acquired the hotel, Elad Properties, a real estate company owned by the Israeli businessman Yitzhak Tshuva, renovated the hotel and turned part of the building into expensive condominiums.

The hotel has been the location for countless films, including The Way We Were, The Great Gatsby, Barefoot in the Park, Funny Girl, Cotton Club, Crocodile Dundee I and II and Home Alone II: Lost In New-York.

Designated a New York City Landmark in 1969, the Plaza is listed on the Register of Historic Places and the only New York City hotel designated a National Historic Landmark.

It sits across from the General Motors Building, the 50-story, white marble-clad building on Fifth Avenue known for its Apple Inc. store at street level and the FAO Schwarz flagship toy store, a popular tourist destination.

A 40 percent stake in the building was sold to the families of Chinese real estate developer Zhang Xin and Brazil's Safra banking empire for about $1.4 billion. Zhang is the billionaire founder and chief executive officer of Soho China Ltd, the biggest developer in Beijing's central business district.