Washington's Wardman Park hotel driven into bankruptcy by virus

Washington

THE owner of the historic Marriott Wardman Park hotel in Washington filed for bankruptcy, becoming the latest hotel to collapse amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Wardman Hotel Owner LLC filed for Chapter 11 in Delaware, listing assets and liabilities of US$100 million to US$500 million, according to a bankruptcy declaration. The debtor is owned by Pacific Life Mutual Holding Co, the papers show.

Located in the Adams Morgan neighbourhood, the Wardman Park is one of the largest hotels in DC with 1,153 guest rooms and 105 suites, as well as 195,000 square feet of event space.

Chapter 11 allows a company to keep operating while it works out a recovery plan, but local news reports have said the hotel has been closed since the early stages of the outbreak and that workers have been warned it might close permanently.

The hotel that would become the Marriott Wardman Park opened its doors in November 1918, according to the website Storied Hotels - an era when the Spanish Flu pandemic was raging across the globe. The Wardman played host to numerous presidential inaugural balls, sheltered a British spy during World War II and counted Langston Hughes as one of its busboys.

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Tuesday, 12 pm

Property Insights

Get an exclusive analysis of real estate and property news in Singapore and beyond.

Sign Up

The bankruptcy filing follows a series of troubles for the hotel, including a legal dispute with Marriott International Inc, which operates the hotel, according to news reports. Marriott alleged that the hotel's owner hadn't been making sufficient investments in the property.

A representative for Marriott didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. BLOOMBERG