 When Helmsley announced that he would drop his ownership of the Knickerbocker Hotel building in 1975, this raised concerns that the building would be demolished.The other option was to renovate the space for $2 million, which could then be rented for .In 1980, with the office market in a slump, Helmsley and David Baldwin converted the office building to residential lofts, with the name 1466 Broadway.