Waldof Astoria Closer To Converting 75% Of Hotel Rooms To Luxury Condos

gothamist ^

[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...."

[Mase]

Who would have thought that a Hilton had one of the best restaurants in the city or on the key? The chef there really knew what he was doing. And the view from the deck overlooking the beach was perfect. C'est la vie.

Growing up where I did, and the experiences that came as a result, is something I would never trade. Hopefully my kids will feel the same way about where they're growing up when they get older. I worry about their naivete from a small town existence. We certainly had a lot more street smarts. It's all good.

[nopardons]

The Longboat Hilton's restaurant was one of THE best of the best in that whole area.

In NYC...you'd best have at least a "good" restaurant, in order to survive! LOL

The Japanese restaurant, in the Waldorf, was spectacular. As I said, their high tea was better than the one at the Plaza and the Carlyle! Their many different other restaurants were "good", but on the down turn in the '80s.

NYC kids were are probably still are THE most "street smart", even the over protected ones, than any other kiddos anywhere. Even though the kiddo grew up in Chicago, I can't claim that her "street smarts" were up to NYC standards at all....and that was also counting what her parents tried to impart to her. :-(

We all worry about our kiddos and then, our Grandkiddos'! :-)

[CGASMIA68]

It wasn’t a joke