Converted Waldorf Astoria hotel starts selling condos

The revamped Waldorf Astoria New York hotel, an iconic landmark now owned by China's Dajia Insurance Group, has begun selling plush multimillion-dollar condos.

For sale are more than 375 residences nestled in the midtown Manhattan building on Park Avenue. The hotel-condo hybrid also has 375 renovated hotel rooms, designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon, which are scheduled to reopen in 2022. The hotel and the condos above it will have separate entrances.

The Art Deco-inspired apartments — called "The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria" — have a starting price of $1.7 million for a studio and include a mix of units and two penthouses expected to cost tens of millions of dollars each. The apartments have "unique" designs, 10-foot high ceilings, new windows, herringbone floors and open-plan kitchens.

Jean-Louis Deniot, the Paris-based architect and designer behind the interior of the residences and amenities, told China Daily: "There is nothing which comes close to the [Waldorf Astoria internationally] … I injected everything I thought was right, being quite careful and caring at the same time."

The hotel closed its doors for two years in 2017 to undergo meticulous renovations. Dajia, based in Beijing, purchased the building in 2015 for $1.95 billion and spent another $1 billion on renovations.

Andrew Miller, CEO of Dajia US, told China Daily: "We've been working so hard with so many people to develop this vision of the project. To have the opportunity to finally show that vision to the city and to the world is incredibly exciting and validating for all of us. I believe that New Yorkers in particular and everyone who has a Waldorf story … (are) going to be excited about the rebirth of this icon."

The 47-story hotel was originally built by competitive cousins William Waldorf and John Jacob Astor IV in 1931. At the time, it was the world's tallest and largest hotel.

It became the place du jour for royalty, presidents and the Hollywood elite. England's Queen Elizabeth II, and Britain's wartime prime minister Winston Churchill stayed there. So too did composer Cole Porter, who lived in Room 33A, a six-bedroom suite at the hotel, where he wrote songs such as I've Got You Under My Skin and Let's Misbehave.

Actresses Marilyn Monroe and Zsa Zsa Gabor and singer Frank Sinatra were all regulars. Every American president from Herbert Hoover (who lived at the Waldorf for more than 30 years) to Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy, stayed at the hotel.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt used to arrive at the hotel in a private railroad car, on a platform that was built under the hotel, close to Grand Central Station. President Barack Obama was the only US leader not to stay there after its sale in 2015.

Today, the building's luxurious apartments are surrounded by 50,000 square feet of amenities that include a 25-meter Starlight Pool overlooking Park Avenue, a Winter Garden, four private bars for residents, a fitness center, private spas for men and women, a dining room, a wine-tasting room, billiards room and game room.

There also are a library and lounge, children's playroom, theater, private porte cochère featuring vaulted ceilings, 24-hour valet service, and two lobbies staffed 24/7.

The fancy residences, however, are coming to the market at a time when there is a glut of luxury high-rise condominiums in Manhattan. The average sales price fell 7.5 percent to $1.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2019; the median sales price fell below $1 million. There is also a mansion tax.

Dan Tubb of Douglas Elliman Development Marketing and senior sales director for The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria, said he invited brokers in on Feb 25. Their response was "overwhelming", he said.

Tubb told China Daily: "Many people are seeing this building as the building that can turn the market. The brokers are looking at this opportunity to sell to their buyers and get back into the marketplace. Everything in the apartments is bespoke. It's customized. It's a one-of-a-kind.

"If you're going to make a purchase in a market that has been difficult, it's got to be something that is unique, one-of-a-kind and that will never be done again and … makes it a smart purchase in this market."

As part of the building's restoration, historic features such as the Spirit of Achievement sculpture by Icelandic sculptor Nina Saemundsson will return to the front canopy of the hotel to welcome new visitors.

Other familiar sights will be the Grand Ballroom, which has been moved to the third floor; the West Lounge, formerly Peacock Alley; Cole Porter's piano; and the clock commissioned by England's Queen Victoria for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) worked as architects on the building, which was granted landmark status for its interior in 2017 and exterior in 1993.

Frank E. Mahan, associate director of SOM, told China Daily: "It's a very big and complex project. … We had to find the right balance between the architects' original intent and the way it was originally built, which is not necessarily the same, what it is today and people's memories. We had to weave these together to create a bridge for the future and a new life for the building."