Chamber voted to replace the building's original light dimmers rather than buy a newer lighting system for the building. The ground floor and basement were leased to the Wanamaker's department store in 1944, with the space to be used by Wanamaker's men's division. After World War II, most of the Chamber's day-to-day operations were outsourced and the Chamber was staffed exclusively by volunteers. The Great Hall was consequently no longer used frequently. In 1968, the general public was allowed to regularly enter the Great Hall for the first time in the building's history. The New York Chamber of Commerce merged with the Commerce and Industry Association in 1973, and 65 Liberty Street became the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Later use The Chamber decided to sell 65 Liberty Street in 1979, relocating to 200 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan and merging with the New York City Partnership to create the Partnership for New York City. With the relocation, the Great Hall's portraits had to be removed as well. The new offices could only fit 10 to 20 of the Great Hall's 300 portraits, but the Chamber of Commerce Building could store about 200 of these portraits. There was a controversy over the portraits' removal, since art experts considered these to be integral to the room's character, and about 80 portraits would have to be given away. The Chamber's collections curator, Evelyn G. Ortner, said in early 1983 that the Chamber was no longer selling portraits. Some of these portraits were subsequently exhibited at the New-York Historical Society. The Chamber of Commerce Building remained unoccupied for ten years because potential tenants balked at the cost of retrofitting it to modern standards, and potential buyers had already twice failed to complete the sale. In 1989, the International Commercial Bank of China (now Mega International Commercial Bank) purchased the building for $5.75 million. Two years later, Haines Lundberg Waehler finished renovating the building into office space at a cost of more than $12 million. The badly damaged wall covering was replaced with velvet; a plywood floor surface was laid atop the original marble floor of the Great Hall, and cables were run beneath the plywood floor. The mechanical systems were also overhauled. Since the building was on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and was a New York City designated landmark, the bank hoped to receive a tax credit