I Think There's A Metaphor Here

Wilted Watergate...highest bidder...Washington Post...highest bidders...

The Watergate Hotel lost its luster years ago, its marble floors, rich colors and grand interiors dusted over with age. Its 251 rooms have stood empty since 2007, and for a year its debt-ridden owners have been trying to unload it. On Tuesday, the national landmark may find its suitor.The bank holding the $40 million loan is putting the foreclosed property up for auction, and in real estate circles, the much-anticipated sale is flooding the phones, fax lines and e-mail in-boxes of a District auction house. A luxury hotel chain from the Middle East might be interested. A big-time developer who built the Georgetown waterfront complex definitely is. So is a hotel company from London, not to mention dozens of other would-be owners.