page_title: John Jacob Astor Hotel
section_title: Conversion to apartments
hierarchical_section_title: John Jacob Astor Hotel / History / Conversion to apartments
caption_attribution_description: Looking east on Commercial Street between 12th and 14th Streets in downtown Astoria, Oregon. This is within the large Astoria Downtown Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Towering in the background is the former Hotel Astoria, which opened in 1924, was renamed the John Jacob Astor Hotel in 1951, and closed in 1968. That building, which is also listed on the NRHP, sat vacant or mostly vacant for many years, but in the 1980s it was finally renovated and it reopened as an apartment building in 1986. The building is L-shaped, not square, and this view of the northwest corner shows its two long sides, whereas its south and east sides are less than half as wide.
context_page_description: The John Jacob Astor Hotel, originally known as the Hotel Astoria, is a historic former hotel building located in Astoria, Oregon, United States, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of the tallest buildings on the Oregon Coast and is a "prominent landmark" in Astoria. Constructed in 1922–23, the hotel opened in 1924 and initially was the city's social and business hub, but soon was beset with a variety of problems, and struggled financially for years. It was renamed the John Jacob Astor Hotel in 1951, but a decline in business continued, as did other problems. The building was condemned by the city for safety violations in 1968 and sat vacant for several years until 1984, when work to renovate it and convert it for apartments began. It reopened as an apartment building in 1986, with the lowermost two floors reserved for commercial use. The building was listed on the NRHP in 1979. The world's first cable television system was set up in 1948 using an antenna on the roof of the Hotel Astoria.
context_section_description: In late 1984, a plan was approved in which private investors would convert the former hotel into 70 apartments for low-income residents on the six upper floors and commercial space on the first two floors.  The building reopened in 1986 with 66 apartments of subsidized housing, referred to as the Astor Apartments and no longer colored pink.  The lowermost two floors remained mostly vacant into the 1990s, but gradually businesses moved into the commercial spaces.  The ornate lobby remained unused until 2010, when a business selling vintage furniture and hardware moved into the space.
caption: Looking east on downtown's main street. The Astor Hotel building is the city's tallest commercial structure.
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