With a $45 million sale to a European real estate group, the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC now looks all set to reopen as a luxury hotel.

Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C.

The Watergate scandal brought down the Nixon Presidency, spawned a book and a movie and made the 12 story, 251-room Watergate Hotel one of the most well-known hotels in Washington DC.

Inspite of the fame, the hotel has fallen apart after being mothballed in 2007. The recession put a stop to an attempted renovation and conversion of the hotel into a hotel/residency complex, and the property has since fallen from owner to bankruptcy to the shame of an auction where no one made a bid to buy it.

But its troubles days seem to be over, with the hotel now under the clear ownership of Euro Watergate Hotel, a holding company of Euro Capital Properties. The company has offices in Paris and New York and apparently specializes in turning pre-WWII properties into upscale hotels.

Their plans for the new Watergate Hotel are just as upscale - Euro Capital is planning to spend $50 million on renovations and they expect to charge room rates in excess of $300 per night. The new hotel will likely keep the Watergate name. Planned facilities at the Watergate include a spa, restaurants and bars.

Given its landmark status as a bonafide tourist attraction, the location overloking the Potomac Rover and proximity to the Kennedy Center and the White House, $300 for a night at the Watergate Hotel doesn’t sound too shabby.

Photo – tvol

Info: 2650 Virginia Avenue NW Washington DC 20037; www.thewatergatehotel.com/

Related posts:-
Watergate Hotel Auction Bidding Starts at $1m in Washington DC
Four Washington DC Landmarks Featured in The Lost Symbol

Unlike humans, when a hotel gets old, it gets demolished. Can you imagine how Eloise would feel watching a wrecking ball crashing through the walls of her beloved Plaza?

We don’t have Eloise to save the day, but we still do need to save endangered hotels from the evil clutches of real-estate developers who want to put up a condo complex or an office tower. Listed here are some of America’s most endangered hotels that could very well be blown up in the near future.

Hotel Pennsylvania, New York City

Hotel Pennsylvania, New York – Popularly known as the Hotel Penn, this iconic 100 year old New York hotel built by the Pennsylvania Railroad islocated across the street from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. In Jan 2007, the owners – Vornado Realty Trust - announced plans to raze the building and put an office tower in its place.

The hotel’s fate is still undecided, and if enough people care about it, the owners could still decide to keep the Hotel Penn alive and open for business. On the web – www.hotelpenn.com/

Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Los Angeles

Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles – 19-story crescent shaped hotel opened in 1966 and now operating as the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. 

This hotel is at the heart of a raging battle between the Los Angeles Conservancy and the building’s owners – Next Century Associates, who want to raze the hotel and replace it with two towers housing a luxury hotel, condos and other modern monstrosities.

The battle to save Century Plaza went into overdrive earlier this year when the building was named as one of America’s 11 most endangered places for 2009 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and actress Diane Keaton became the public and very vocal face of the effort to save Century Plaza.

On the web – centuryplaza.hyatt.com/

The Watergate Hotel, Washington D.C. – Scene of President Nixon’s Waterloo, the Watergate Hotel has been shuttered since 2007. The previous owners, Monument Realty, wanted to turn it into a luxury apartment complex. A planned renovation which was supposed to be complete by now never really got going, and the hotel remains closed.

The Watergate Hotel, Washington D.C.

The Watergate hotel has now been reportedly purchased by Holland Development Group, and depending on what their plans are, it could either end up as a luxury condo complex, or re-open after a renovation as one of the world’s most famous hotels and a DC landmark and tourist attraction to boot. On the web – www.thewatergatehotel.com/

Dallas Grand Hotel, Dallas – Formerly known as the Dallas Statler Hilton which opened in 1956, this building has also been named to the NTHP’s list of endangered places in 2008, and was also on the Preservation Dallas’ list in both 2007 and 2008.

Dallas Grand Hotel, Dallas, TX

It was supposed to be demolished in 2003, but got a reprieve. Other properties around it are being developed at a feverish pace. Sooner or later, the costs of keeping an eyesore in the middle of a well-developed neighbourhood is going to be too much to bear for Dallas and the building will be torn down.

Photo credits:- Hotel Penn by sfllaw; Dallas Grand Hotel by Steve Clique; Watergate Hotel by tvol; Century Plaza courtesy Hyatt Hotels Corp.

The auction of the landmark Watergate Hotel in Washington DC is generating a bidding frenzy amongst developers and real estate investors. Bidding starts at $1m on Tuesday at 10.15 am at the Wisconsin Ave offices of Alex Cooper Auctioneers.

Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C.

This historic hotel - located across from the Kennedy Center and half a mile from the Lincoln Memorial – now stands desolate and abondoned to the elements, another victim of the recession which has seen hundreds of hotels going into default and being foreclosed.

Monument Realty, the current owners, have left a $40 million loan hanging around the hotel’s neck, but that’s just one part of the screw-up. The owners shuttered the hotel in 2007, and were in the process of converting the Watergate into a luxury hotel/residency complex. This $100 million makeover plan came to a screeching halt when one of the financiers - Lehman Brothers – went bankrupt last year.

Richard Nixon leaves White House

The only saving grace is the hotel’s history and national landmark status. The Watergate Hotel is famed for being the place where the Watergate burglars snoozed in 1972 before breaking into and pilfering documents in the adjacent Democratic National Committee HQ office –  a crime which  implicated Richard Nixon and forced him to resign from the Presidency.

This historic status is attracting bidders for the hotel from all over – including local developers and international luxury hotel chains. Monument Realty purchased it for $45 million in 2004, but that figure now seems too high for the auction, which could end up anywhere between $20-30 million.

(Update: July 23, 2009 - The auction attracted 1 winning bid for $25m, and the Watergate is now owned by PG Capital - the lender who foreclosed the hotel in the first place.)

Watergate Hotel photo by tvol (creative commons). Richard Nixon photo by Ollie Atkins (public domain).