Waldorf-Astoria Part of $1.4 B. Trade (UPDATED)

The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel has traded hands as part of one of the biggest property deals in New York City in 2007.

The Shareholders of Hilton Hotels Corporation turned over the hotel at 301 Park Avenue to BH Hotels LLC for $572,343,007, according to real property transfer tax records entered with the city on Nov. 21. Hilton also sold the Hilton New York at 1335 Avenue of the Americas for $757,804,148 and two contiguous lots at 102-108 West 57th Street for $68,989,066. The entire trade between Hilton and BH Hotels totals $1,399,136,221.

UPDATE: BH Hotels LLC is an entity of the Blackstone Group, which bought out Hilton in October in a $26 billion purchase. This hotel deal is part of that buy.

The gem of the deal is the Waldorf-Astoria, one of New York's iconic midtown hotels. The Waldorf Hotel was opened by William Waldorf Astor in 1893 at the site of his mansion at Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street. Four years later, Astor's cousin, John Jacob Astor IV, opened the Astoria Hotel on a neighboring site. By 1929, however, to make room for the Empire State Building, both hotels, by then adjoining one another, were demolished and the current Waldorf-Astoria was reopened in 1931 as then the world's largest and tallest hotel. It currently has 1,245 rooms, according to its Web site.

Hilton bought the sites on West 57th Street in 2006 for $63 million. These included the site of the former Shelly's restaurant and an adjacent office building. In September 2006, Hilton announced plans for the 28-story development of a Hilton Grand Vacations Club on part of the site to offer time-shares.