an assessed value of $16.3 million. Bowman continued to operate the Commodore until he died in 1931, and David Mulligan took over as Bowman-Biltmore's president the next year. Frank J. Crohan began operating the Commodore after he became president of Bowman-Biltmore in 1934. The Commodore began serving alcoholic drinks in December 1933, after Prohibition in the United States was repealed, although patrons could initially order drinks from rolling carts. After New York state repealed a Prohibition-era ban on standing bars in May 1934, Bowman-Biltmore Hotels installed a bar in the Commodore. That October, the Commodore's managers opened an English-style grill room, decorated with recessed lighting and wooden panels. Biltmore-Bowman subsequently added a bar at the Commodore in 1936, hiring 25 bartenders. The hotel was renovated in 1937 for $750,000; according to Crohan, this was the first major renovation of the Commodore in its history. The project involved renovating three ballrooms and all 2,000 guest rooms; installing ten new elevators; and adding a new kitchen and grill room. The renovations were completed by 1939. Crohan died in 1940, and Martin Sweeny was appointed as the Commodore's general manager. The hotel's guests during this time included Wendell Willkie, Republican nominee for the 1940 United States presidential election, who opened his personal headquarters there. The Officers Service Committee also took up some space in the hotel during World War II; at the end of the war, the committee's space became a bureau for United Nations delegations. An air-conditioning system was installed in the Century Room in 1946, allowing the room to operate during the summer, and the entire hotel was air-conditioned by the next year. Sweeny died in 1950, shortly after becoming chairman of the Commodore Hotel's board. The storefront at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street was leased by a drugstore in 1954 and was extensively remodeled at a cost of $200,000. Zeckendorf and Realty Hotels operation Webb and Knapp, led by developer William Zeckendorf, offered to buy all of the Commodore Hotel's outstanding common stock in October 1957 for $18 per share. At the time, Webb and Knapp wished to control 8,000 hotel rooms in New York City. Zeckendorf Hotels, took over the Commodore in September 1958, acquiring 96 percent of the stock. As part of a leaseback agreement, Zeckendorf immediately sold the lease on the land to Joseph I. Lubin for $6 million, subleasing the site from Lubin