Yahoo Finance The Waldorf-Astoria Will Close for a $1 Billion Renovation
It's a story almost as old as New York itself: Beloved landmark gets new owner, new owner plans renovation, nervous public contemplates change, despairs. A year and a half ago, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel joined the ranks of Manhattan institutions facing a revamp, and now we know a bit more about what's planned.
The Anbang Insurance Group, a Chinese company, acquired the Waldorf for close to $2 billion in October 2014 from Hilton Worldwide Holdings. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that Anbang has announced plans to shut the property for as long as three years while undertaking a massive renovation that will reportedly cost more than $1 billion.
When the 13-story Art Deco hotel reopens, a sizable portion of the property will be converted into high-end condominiums. There will still be between 300 and 500 guest rooms (there are currently 1,413 rooms).
Hilton Worldwide will continue to manage the hotel operations. Conrad Hilton bought the hotel in 1949, having coveted it since it opened in 1931. He famously doodled "The Greatest of Them All" across an opening-day newspaper photograph of the hotel. The hotel itself was built by the Astor family, and was actually the second Waldorf-Astoria. The first was on the block now occupied by the Empire State building, and was two hotels (the Waldorf and the Astoria) connected by a corridor. For years, the present Waldorf-Astoria, on Park Avenue between 49th and 50th, was the tallest and largest hotel in the world.
The Waldorf has famously played host to society galas, movie stars, and every president since Harry Truman, but has lost a bit of its luster in recent years. The ambitious renovation is aimed at reclaiming that most glittering of hotel reputations-as well as capturing the richest international buyers, who have buoyed up the highest end of the New York City real estate market with a seemingly voracious appetite for high-end condo conversions.
In a speech last year at Harvard, Anbang Chairman Xiaohui Wu hinted that owning a piece of the Waldorf's newest iteration will require more than a bank account. "A potential buyer needs more than money to qualify for our apartments," he said.
