China’s Anbang Insurance Group, which paid US$1.95 billion for New York’s Waldorf Astoria in a deal that closed last week, will convert the top floors of the hotel into condos, according to a Friday report in New York real estate journal, The Real Deal.
“We plan to renovate the two towers into luxury residential apartments with world-class amenities and finishes to reflect its culture and social status,” Anbang’s Chairman Wu Xiaohui said during a recent talk at Harvard University, according to a transcript of the event obtained by The Real Deal. “A potential buyer needs to have more than money to qualify for our apartments.”
The deal, which marks one of the highest prices per room ever paid for a U.S. hotel, was approved on February 2 by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and closed with Hilton on February 11.