It’s with no glee that we report yet another apparent delay in reopening the iconic Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The doors won’t swing wide again until September, according to our on-the-ground sources.
Property owner Daija Insurance Group and hotel management company Hilton for the past few months touted a “spring” reopening, which our sources said would have been in May.
The mysterious postponement follows previous failures to reopen the hotel as far back as in 2021 as the owners first promised. It wasn’t clear whether a fatal construction accident in early January, which resulted in a Department of Buildings temporary stop-work order, contributed to the latest go-slow.
None of the delays are the fault of Hilton, which yearns to see the Art Deco Park Avenue landmark reopened as the flagship of its ever-growing, international Waldorf-Astoria Hotels & Resorts brand. Blame is instead due Chinese owners with little if any real estate expertise.
Anbang Insurance bought the property for nearly $2 billion in 2014 and closed it for restoration and partial condo conversion two years later. The Beijing bosses later imprisoned Anbang’s chief for fraud and corruption and replaced it with Daija.
Douglas Elliman, the exclusive marketing agent for the property’s 375 newly-created condo apartments, trumpeted this month that the first three unit sales had closed for a total of $7 million.
But the hotel’s reservation site lists no guest-room availability until Sept. 1. A spokesperson told us in December, “As we move closer to our opening date, we anticipate accepting reservations for dates beginning in spring 2025.” The reps didn’t get back to us this time.
Another question mark hangs over the Waldorf’s planned ground-floor American brasserie, named Lex Yards. It’s to be helmed by Gramercy Tavern chef Michael Anthony, whom we couldn’t reach.
The opening is supposed to coincide with the hotel reopening, but it wasn’t known whether the restaurant would open before the hotel’s guest rooms.
Jane Street Capital’s 67% expansion to about 1 million square feet at Brookfield’s 250 Vesey St. lent a much-needed ray of optimism to the sagging downtown office market.
The lease, first reported by Bloomberg, ended suspense over where the global trading firm would stretch its wings. We previously wrote that Jane Street was exploring next-door 300 Vesey St. for growth.
Until last week’s signing, Downtown noticeably sat out Manhattan’s winter leasing boom. January saw overall borough activity of 2.61 million square feet, or 59% ahead of the five-year monthly average, according to CBRE.
But large deals were all in Midtown and Midtown South, which recorded volume that was up 18% and an amazing 166% respectively over January 2024.
Downtown leasing in January was a paltry 315,000 square, down 3% over the month in 2024, CBRE reported.
You might be tired of Realty Check reporting giant restaurant leases before anyone else – such as our story last week about Morimoto returning to the city in a big way at 1255 Broadway– but here we go again.
Maple Hospitality Group signed a lease for 12,000 square feet at Vornado’s 1290 Sixth Ave. on the West 51st Street, south-facing side. MHG owns four different eatery brands including its Chicago flagship Maple & Ash, which is “redefining today’s steakhouse experience,” the company says.
MHG also owns modern-Italian restaurant Monarch in Dallas. It wasn’t immediately known which concept will be at 1290 Sixth.
Vornado’s busy with $45 million in new tenants’ amenities at the tower where the Trump Organization holds a 30% passive stake. (The Maple restaurant will be completely public.) The tower’s 2 million square feet of offices are about 90% leased. Five Iron Golf recently signed for a 13,000 square-foot facility as we reported in September.
We wondered what would replace Charlie Palmer’s defunct steakhouse at the Durst Organization’s One Bryant Park. The team behind celebrated, three-location Japanese restaurant Momoya just signed for 5,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space there, the landlord announced.
“For the first time since we opened One Bryant Park [in 2009], the spectacular restaurant space at the base of the building became available last year. We knew the Momoya team’s vision would be a perfect fit for the Bryant Park neighborhood,” said Durst Organization president Jody Durst. Momoya president KwangHo Lee cited the tower’s “architectural distinction and substantial commercial potential of the location.”
Lee operates Momoya locations in Chelsea, Soho and the Upper West Side, as well as high-end kaiseki spot Kappo Sono in Union Square and three outposts of casual sushi concept Happy Tuna.
It wasn’t yet known what form the new restaurant will be when it opens later this year. The space will be completely redesigned, Durst said.
One Bryant Park’s 2.35 million-square feet are fully leased. Sinvin Real Estate’s Christopher Owles repped the Momoya group. Durst was repped in-house by Tom Bow, Rocco Romeo, and Nora Caliban.
