Watergate Hotel fails to draw any bidders at auction

WASHINGTON (Winston-Salem Journal) - The Watergate Hotel, part of the complex made famous by a presidential scandal, failed to attract any bids at auction yesterday 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. The lender will now try to find a buyer, said Paul Cooper, a vice president of the auction house, Alex Cooper Auctioneers.

But the former hotel owner, Monument Realty, still wants to transform the Watergate into a luxury hotel with a small residential component, according to Michael Darby, Monument's principal.

Opened in 1967, the hotel is one of six buildings in the Watergate complex, which also includes the office building where the 1972 burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters occurred -- a crime that led to President Nixon's resignation.