Looking back on the potential demolition of New York’s Hotel Pennsylvania for a fancy new headquarters for Merrill Lynch, my how the tides have turned! Investment banking is a national disgrace, and now must redeem itself. It will take a generation, at least.
But the duress on Wall Street has taken the pressure off the potential demolition of the hotel. No need for a palatial headquarters for Merrill Lynch. It’s now a branch of Bank of America. The New York Observer reported Aug. 21, 2008 that Vornado Realty in August applied for a certificate to take steps to do that, but still was mulling options.
Wrote the Observer, “Vornado, which owns that site and many others in the area, hasn’t made up its mind on what to do with the hotel (at least not publicly), and last word was that the company would do one of three things: put a giant office tower in its place, put a smaller office tower in its place with large retail, or simply spruce up the hotel.”
Read our old posts on it.
- Save Hotel Pennsylvania, Last Stop for the Pennsy Brand, Sept 22, 2007
- Pennsy Hotel Fight Gathers Steam, Nov 22, 2007
- Next Stop for Hotel Pennsylvania, Feb. 16, 2008