Posted on 06/27/2016 5:02:05 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Chinese conglomerate Anbang Insurance Group bought the Midtown property for $1.95 billion in 2014—which then prompted President Obama to ditch the hotel as presidential lodgings. As many as 1,100 of the current 1,413 rooms will be turned into condos; the WSJ also reports, "The vast reduction in Waldorf hotel rooms will lead to the elimination of many room-service, housekeeping and other hospitality jobs. The Waldorf has about 1,500 hotel employees. The new owners and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., which will continue to manage the property when it reopens, have reached severance agreements with hundreds of these workers at a cost of $100 million or more..."
It's believed that the company will spend up to $1 billion on renovations. While an Anbang spokesperson told the newspaper, "We continue to explore all options. We have no definitive plans at this time," Anbang's chief Xiaohui Wu said last year at a Harvard recruiting event, "We expect a good return with our Waldorf investment. To achieve the high value-creation, we plan to renovate the two towers into luxury residential apartments with world class amenities and finishes to reflect its culture and social status...."
(Excerpt) Read more at gothamist.com ...
Stayed there in 1999 on an anniversary lark. Might have been using cheap tickets on what was then the “Delta Shuttle” from DC. Spent that Saturday evening in the lobby bar where Daryl Sherman was playing Cole Porter’s piano. Had intended to get supper elsewhere but Daryl was great so we listened to her all night.
Nice!
Trump should have bought it.
all the apts will be bugged
You laugh. Given the clientele, the Chinese would stand to get a fortune in business secrets.
When I was 11 my Dad took me with him on a business trip to NYC and we stayed at the Waldorf.I was far too young and clueless to know that the Waldorf was a big deal.I’ve never been back.
really, who in their right mind would ever stay/live in a ChiCom controlled building???
I stayed there in 1967 with my parents. Don’t remember too much about it. My grandparents stayed there a lot in the 1940s.
Hate to see this happen to such an icon and felt the same way when they did something similar to the Plaza.
100,000,000/1500=$66,666.
Must include a sizable portion of cashing out retirement benefits.
The hotel chopped up those apartments and we stayed in one of the suits, which had once been part of Coward's apartment, on one trip home, long ago.
True, but the vaunted Plaza was a mess and a shadow of its former self 36 years ago. Then Trump bought it and with Ivana in charge, it didn’t get much better; sadly.
They will still need a doorman.
Indeed. But I loved sitting on the massive window ledge of my room overlooking Central Park south, with those huge windowns you could open and fall right out of, and drink a few cold beers watching the world go by......And brunch at the Palm Court! That was always a treat, and was absolutely one of my favorite things to do with my parents. Would have liked to have done that more often. Now it’s IHOP with the kids or, for a special occasion, brunch at First Watch. They still haven’t reopened the damn Longboat Hilton.
Re The Plaza.....my mother, grandmother and sometimes my great aunt and I would have lunch or high tea there, when I was growing up. Even did tea with the beloved, in our courting days. The Palm Court was still sort of "okay" 36 years ago, but hasn't been worth going to in decades !
Fortunately, we were able to do that kind of thing with the kiddo, but sadly, the grand has missed out on tghis part of growing up. :-(
My parents took us to the Palm Court throughout the 70's but then we moved on with our own lives and they stopped going. If the family was together we stayed at the Waldorf. If just mom and dad, the Peninsula was the hotel of choice. Those were great times. Before kids, we'd visit the city a few times a year, but even then the Waldorf was deteriorating. That's how we used my travel points, though, so the price was right. Our kids won't know the city but the the best beach in the country is just minutes away. :^)
For illegals??
The Waldorf and The Waldorf Towers, though part of the same complex, were really more like two separate entities. After our first stay at The Plaza, it was ALWAYS The Towers for us....when we lived in Chicago and went "home". And their High Tea was far better than the one at The Palm Court, to boot. :-)
Though we have taken the Grand into the City, many times, sadly, he won't ever be able to have the same experiences, there, that my kiddo did and neither of them, the kind I had by growing up there. Oh well.....that's just they way it is. :-(
We all do what we can, but times change and NYC changes a LOT and has done, since it was New Amsterdam!
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