Algonquin Hotel, Literary Haunt, Sold to Japan Firm

The Algonquin Hotel, a Manhattan literary hangout for the better part of a century, has been sold for $29 million to a Brazil-based subsidiary of Aoki Corp., which is headquartered in Tokyo.

The new owner, Caesar Park Hotels, “is committed to maintaining the atmosphere, decor and traditions that have made the Algonquin a beloved meeting place for New Yorkers,” according to a statement released by its president, Chieko Aoki.

Ben and Mary Bodne, who sold the 200-room hotel to Caesar Park, will continue to live at the hotel and play what a press release termed “an important role in the life of the Algonquin.”

The Algonquin was the home of the “Round Table,” a group of writers and actors who regularly ate lunch at the hotel. They included Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott and George S. Kaufman.