WASHINGTON — The Watergate Hotel, part of the complex made famous by a presidential scandal, failed to attract any bids at auction Tuesday and was taken back by the lender that held the $40 million note on it.
PB Capital Corp. took back the property after the auction opened at $25 million to a silent room. The lender will now try to find a buyer, said Paul Cooper, vice president of the auction house, Alex Cooper Auctioneers.
The former hotel owner, Monument Realty, still wants to transform the Watergate into a luxury hotel, said Mi chael Darby, Monument’s principal.
Four Watergate burglars stayed at the hotel.
A piece of presidential history
Opened in 1967, the hotel is one of six buildings in the Watergate complex, which includes the office building where the 1972 burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters occurred — a crime that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. Getty Images file photo
