Eight years and some $2 billion later, the grand dame’s makeover is ready for its reveal. But competing with Manhattan’s best will be a matter of embracing both its past and the present.

At Live Oak Waldorf School in rural California, for example, tuition for a five-day pre-K program is about $7,980 per year, whereas at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City, pre-K costs $34,400.

Suffolk Construction's projects at the Waldorf-Astoria and 1 High Line have given ... 250 full-time workers in New York. ... opportunities in sectors such as health care and schools, ...