"Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, the New York Central's founder. As part of the Dual Contracts, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was planning a subway station for the IRT Lexington Avenue Line at 42nd Street, which was to run diagonally from Park Avenue in the southwest to Lexington Avenue in the northeast. Because the station was partially located under the Children's Hospital site, the Public Service Commission had to acquire an easement from the New York Central, which would enable the commission to build part of the station under the proposed hotel. The commission was unwilling to pay the New York Central's asking price for the easement, so the IRT modified its plans in April 1913, avoiding the hospital site entirely. The Public Service Commission voted on the modification in June 1913, and the modified route was adopted that November. The commission voted in favor of the original diagonal route in February 1914. The commission subsequently acquired the easement in February 1915 for $902,500. Construction The New York State Realty and Terminal Company, a division of the New York Central, leased the hotel to John McEntee Bowman in January 1916. Bowman paid $175,000 a year for 21 years, with two renewal options. In addition, Bowman was obligated to pay 91 percent of the taxes and six percent of the total construction cost every year. The Commodore became part of the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels chain in 1918 after Bowman and rival hotel operator Benjamin L. M. Bates agreed to merge their respective companies. The New York Central filed plans with the New York City Department of Buildings in May 1916. The hotel, to be designed by Warren and Wetmore, was to rise 26 stories and cost $6 million. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company gave the New York Central a $4.5 million loan for the site in September 1916. The Real Estate Record wrote at the time: "the release of such an enormous amount of money into a single building project is being regarded as highly significant inasmuch as there has been a marked tendency on the part of many builders to hold their projects in abeyance" during World War I. The excavations for the subway station had been completed by this point, and the George A. Fuller Company, the hotel's general contractor, took over the site. Construction commenced in October 1916; the project was expected to cost $6 million. Francis T. Gilling and