Barracks, Sheraton, planned casino, conversion
During the Depression in 1937 the owners defaulted on the mortgage and the Ritz-Carlton was reorganized under bankruptcy. The hotel was one of many in the city to be used as military barracks for soldiers in training and recuperation during World War II.
After the war, the Ritz-Carlton reopened and was bought by J. Myer Schine in 1946 for $2.25 million.[6] On July 5, 1952, Schine Hotels sold the Ritz-Carlton for $3.75 million to Harry L. Katz and Edward Margolin, owners of the nearby Ambassador Hotel.[6] Sheraton Hotels bought the property on January 16, 1958 for $4 million, briefly renaming it The Sheraton Ritz-Carlton. Sheraton spent a further $800,000 on renovations, but sold the hotel again after only thirteen months, on February 18, 1959, to The Ritz of Atlantic City Corp. for the same price they paid for it.[7]
The Ritz-Carlton was converted to an apartment hotel in June 1969.[3] In 1978, an investor group purchased the building intending to convert it to a hotel and casino. However, unfavorable publicity linking it to the Abscam investigation ended that plan.[8] Senator Harrison A. Williams (D-N.J.) told an undercover FBI agent that he could help save the investors $30 million by allowing them to renovate the existing property, rather than building a new one. Williams' wife was a paid consultant and shareholder in Hardwicke Companies, the majority investor in the project, and Williams expected to receive a $1 million finder's fee for helping arrange financing for the project. Williams was later convicted on unrelated charges.[9][10]
In 1982, approximately $25 million was spent converting it to 322 residences and six commercial suites, of which some are full-time residences and others are vacation homes.[11] At the same time, the newly re-established Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company paid the building's owners to abandon use of the Ritz-Carlton name, to avoid confusion with their hotels.[12] The building has operated since then as The Ritz Condominiums.
