Waldorf Astoria Hits Market After Eight-Year Conversion

Everyone in real estate had a chance to check out the renovated Waldorf Astoria at the REBNY annual gala last month. Now, they’ll have an opportunity to buy it.

Dajia Insurance Group, a state-run Chinese firm, is planning on putting the historic Manhattan property up for sale, the Wall Street Journal reported. Eastdil Secured will be in charge of marketing the property when it likely goes up for sale next month, expected to ask for at least $1 billion.

The full-block property on Park Avenue recently underwent a lengthy eight-year redevelopment. The renovation reduced the hotel portion of the property to 375 rooms, while also creating a 372-unit condominium offering; those units would still be sold separately, though the property’s sale would include adjoining restaurants and retail sites.

Roughly a year ago, the Waldorf Astoria landed its first condo closings since the development launched in 2017.

That redevelopment was disrupted a year later when the Chinese government seized Anbang Insurance Group, the original developer of the project, as part of a crackdown on companies with large foreign outlays. Months later, Anbang chief executive officer Wu Xiaohui was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Angbang had originally purchased the building in 2015 for $1.95 billion.

The hotel was eventually transferred to Dajia US, the American subsidiary of a Chinese government-established entity, and sales launched in early March 2020 — days before the physical sales gallery was shut down due to Covid.

Two years later, the chief executive of Dajia US left the project amid pandemic-induced cost overruns and project delays, as well as difficulties converting the landmarked property. At that time, sources familiar with the development projected work being finished by the end of 2023 at the earliest. It took another two years.

With construction overruns, the project cost more than $4 billion in total. While the sellers will be looking for at least $1 billion, they don’t anticipate recouping all of the costs from the redevelopment, especially considering the small number of buyers who could put up ten figures for the site.

— Holden Walter-Warner