The Waldorf Astoria New York closed in 2017 for a massive, multi-year renovation and conversion project, transforming much of the building into luxury condominiums while restoring its iconic hotel sections, and it has recently begun to reopen in 2025 after an extended, complex, eight-year overhaul. The extensive work, including gutting the interior and reducing guest rooms, faced significant delays, but the landmark property is now back with luxury residences and hotel amenities, blending historic charm with modern design.
Trump developed the property into a luxury hotel, the Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., which opened on September 12, 2016 and closed on May 11, 2022, after its sale to CGI Merchant Group. It reopened as the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC on June 1, 2022.
After an eight-year, $2 billion transformation, the iconic Waldorf Astoria New York has officially reopened in 2025, seamlessly blending its historic grandeur with a fresh, elevated vision of modern luxury. Dining and cocktails continue the legacy.
As the story goes, a feud arose between Mrs. Astor and her nephew and Fifth Avenue neighbor, William Waldorf Astor, who felt that if anyone was going to be society's doyenne, it ought to be his wife, not his aunt, who was continuously referred to by the press as “the Mrs. Astor”.
Did the Waldorf Astoria reopen after 8 years $2 billion renovation?
Founded in the 1890s, the Waldorf Astoria moved into its art deco building, steps from Grand Central Station, on Park Avenue in 1931. Closed since 2017 for an eight‑year restoration that reportedly cost $2bn (€1.72bn), the hotel has at last reopened. One bold aim was reducing the 1,400 guest rooms.
Waldorf Astoria Hotel Is Closing For Renovation This Month
Do the Astors still own the Waldorf Astoria?
The original Waldorf-Astoria, built in two stages in the 1890s, was demolished in 1929 to make way for the construction of the Empire State Building. Conrad Hilton acquired management rights to the hotel in October 1949, and the Hilton Hotels Corporation bought the hotel outright in 1972.
In October 2014, Hilton Worldwide announced the sale of the Waldorf Astoria New York hotel to Chinese firm Anbang Insurance Group for $1.95 billion. The Hilton group continues to operate the hotel under a 100-year management contract with the buyer.
The move puts the Waldorf Astoria hotel, once the Manhattan home for visiting dignitaries and presidents, directly under control not just of a Chinese company, but of the Chinese government.
The hotelier Conrad Hilton long aspired to own the Waldorf-Astoria, calling it “the greatest of them all,” and in 1977, his company acquired the property. In 2014, Hilton sold it to the Chinese firm Anbang Insurance Group for $1.95 billion, still the most expensive hotel sale in history.
Waldorf Astoria Residences is a conversion of the upper floors of one of the world's most legendary hotels into 375 condominiums, along with 50,000 square feet of private residential amenities.
The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 52.2% (80,533) Non-Hispanic White, 4.7% (7,204) Black, 0.2% (250) Native American, 14.3% (22,100) Asian, 0.0% (70) Pacific Islander, 1.0% (1,532) from other races, and 2.1% (3,238) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 25.4% (39,214) of the population.
Katie Miller (wife of Stephen Miller) is Jewish, born Katie Rose Waldman in Florida to Jewish parents, and identifies with her Jewish heritage, though she's of European (Ashkenazi) descent through her family's history, similar to her husband Stephen Miller's background.
Brooke Astor lived to be 105, dying in 2007, and in the later years of her life, she suffered from dementia. Unfortunately, other Astor family members used this to their advantage, exploiting her condition to loot her fortune. One such member was Anthony Marshall, Brooke Astor's own son from a previous marriage.
John Jacob Astor IV was one of the wealthiest people in the world when he perished in the Titanic sinking on April 15, 1912. His life was marked by amazing innovations, wealth, and scandal. Astor's wife, who was 30 years younger than him when they married, was pregnant aboard the Titanic and survived.
In the 1996 book The Wealthy 100, authors Michael Klepper and Robert Gunther placed John D. Rockefeller atop the list of the richest Americans in history, followed by Cornelius Vanderbilt and John Jacob Astor.
Global Ranking of Hotel Groups in 2025 based on the Number of Rooms (as of 31/12/2024): Marriott International: 9,266 hotels / 1,683,204 rooms (+6.9%) Jin Jiang: 14,311 hotels / 1,439,756 rooms (+7.7%) Hilton Worldwide: 8,342 hotels / 1,249,814 rooms (+7.1%)
It would be the hotel business that would earn George Boldt his fortune. With daring and imagination he would become the most successful hotel magnate in America, and would go on to manage the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City and own the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia (now the Park Hyatt).
The hotel was developed as a successor to the Waldorf-Astoria. Hotel Astor's success triggered the construction of the nearby Knickerbocker Hotel by other members of the Astor family two years later. The building was razed in 1967 to make way for the high-rise office tower One Astor Plaza.
Waldorf Astoria reopens after an eight-year, $6B overhaul that reshaped the NYC icon into luxury condos and a flagship hotel. Valerija I. The iconic Waldorf Astoria is set to fully reopen after an eight-year, $6B overhaul that included a top-to-bottom renovation and condo conversion.
