Art deco Waldorf Astoria hotel to be closed for three years and turned into luxury condos

The Waldorf Astoria hotel will be closed next spring for at least three years and will be turned into luxury condominiums by new owners and Chinese insurance group Anbang.

Yet only some of the guests and staff may be aware of the morning’s headlines as they take their breakfast near the lobby.

One guest who is clued up on the development is Joe Wright, who has been coming to the hotel for 20 years.

“I wasn’t at all surprised,” he tells The Independent, surveying a window of Rolex watches in the lobby. “It’s outdated."

In his junior suite on the 15th floor, he points out the rose-patterned carpet, the poky storage space and the framed photograph of a Guerlain model, which looks a bit dusty.

“It’s ridiculous,” he says.

Yet the businessman in his sixties has stayed in this hotel, every year for two decades, for work trips from the UK to New York in the safety and testing industry.

Why?

“I’m a creature of habit,” he says.

Taking the dark elevator back down to the lower floor, it drops and whooshes down the airshaft as if guests are hurtling through a gale in a wooden box.

The lobby is more serene, with soft jazz echoing off white marble walls and plush carpets, once tread upon by Frank Sinatra and the Duke of Windsor after he abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson.

The famous clock by the reception strikes nine. A woman in sparkling stilettos is on the phone, sorting through her Burberry handbag. Her shoes look similar to the pair of Manolo Blahniks showcased in the nearby glass cabinet.

“I don’t have an opinion on it,” she tells The Independent, referring to the hotel’s plans. At that moment, a staff member approaches her with a cup of coffee - “Just as you like it”.

“Thank you, darling!” the woman says, and hurries away.

The art deco venue, nearby the Four Seasons hotel which is closed for renovation until later this year, is where every US president since Herbert Hoover has stayed, and where the annual United Nations General Assembly takes place.

President Barack Obama decided to stay elsewhere for the last assembly, however, and sources pointed to “security concerns” under the new ownership.

open image in gallery

But it is both the loyal "creatures of habit" and the first-time guests that say the Waldorf, managed by Hilton Worldwide, is due a renovation.

When the Waldorf re-opens, only 300 to 500 of the 1,413 rooms will remain part of the hotel, and many of the 1,500 staff jobs will be let go.

Anbang spent $1.95 billion to acquire the property in 2015, setting a new record for the purchase of a hotel, and redevelopment costs are anticipated to amount to at least $1 billion, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

An Anbang spokesman told the publication that the company has "no definitive plans at this time", but will meet with Waldorf representatives within a few weeks to finalise the proposals.

On the pavement outside on Park Avenue, a guest called Lisa is ready to travel home to Canada after a 5-day stay at the hotel.

“It’s expensive, and outdated,” she says, climbing into her taxi.

Rooms start at $389 per night, according to the hotel website, and suites, including the famous Presidential Suite, cost more than $10,000 per night.

A couple from Aberdeenshire in Scotland, Cindy and Kenny, says that Anbang's plans for the hotel were “sad and surprising”.

“The hotel is a typical, old-fashioned New York landmark,” says Kenny.

They have also stayed at the Ritz-Carlton, but this 85-year-old institution was their favourite.

Various major hotels in New York City have recently been closed or renovated, including the Hotel Chelsea, the Beekman and the Roxy.

The famous Plaza hotel was closed between 2005 and 2008 while it underwent a $400 million renovation, turning several floors into 181 condominiums.