They Spent $4 Billion on the Waldorf Astoria. Now They're Selling It at a Loss.

#WaldorfAstoria #NewYork #Skyscraper The hotel where presidents slept, where Marilyn Monroe lived, where power checked in for nearly a century. Someone spent more than $4 billion rebuilding it — and just months after it reopened, they put it up for sale at a loss. In this video, we go inside the Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue: bought for a record $1.95 billion in 2014, then shut for eight years and carved into luxury condos. From a renovation that ran five years late and more than a billion dollars over budget, to an owner who ended up sentenced to 18 years in prison, to more than a thousand workers who lost their jobs in a single morning — we break down how America's most famous hotel became a $4 billion warning. You can buy a legend for any price. You can't buy back the decade it takes to rebuild one. ☕ Support the channel If you enjoy this content and want to help keep these stories going, you can buy me a coffee. Every contribution helps with research, editing and creating more documentaries like this one. 👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/youtube.online MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES: Reporting on the 2014 Anbang acquisition of the Waldorf Astoria Wall Street Journal and Reuters reporting on the 2026 planned sale Public reporting on the renovation timeline, budget overruns and condo sales Coverage of the Wu Xiaohui fraud case and the Chinese state takeover of Anbang ABOUT THIS CHANNEL: MadeFor explores the incredible stories behind the world's biggest engineering triumphs, failures, and forgotten megaprojects. From skyscrapers and stadiums to billion-dollar infrastructure, we break down how these structures are built — and what happens when they are left behind. Subscribe for weekly deep dives into mega engineering, architecture, and urban mysteries. Subscribe for more mega-engineering deep dives:    / @madefor-1