The Waldorf-Astoria will reportedly be closed for up to three years while up to three-quarters of its rooms are converted to luxury condos.
China’s Anbang Insurance Group, which bought the Waldorf from Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. in 2014 for $1.95 billion, will close the hotel starting next spring, The Wall Street Journal reported.
When the 85-year-old city landmark on Park Avenue in Midtown reopens, it will have just 300 to 500 guest rooms, the Journal reported, down from the current 1,413.
The redevelopment is expected to cost more than $1 billion and will lead to the elimination of many of the current 1,500 jobs, as the need for room-service, housekeeping and other hospitality staff will be dramatically decreased, the Journal reported.
Anbang and Hilton Worldwide, which will continue to manage the property when it reopens, have already reached severance agreements with hundreds of the employees at a cost of $100 million or more, sources told the Journal.
A condo conversion could help raise up to $4 billion in sales, hotel-industry analysts have estimated.
Still, Manhattan’s high-end condo market has seen falling prices over the past year.
“There’s just too much inventory that’s overpriced,” luxury broker Donna Olshan told the Journal.
