Now, the paper is listing the old Glenn Miller hangout among its "10 Endangered Buildings Worth Saving" -- No. 2, in fact, just behind Harlem's Corn Exchange Bank.

That's about $5 million more than it made over the same timeframe in 2007, when the hotel ultimately netted $37.9 million.

At this rate, the old Glenn Miller hangout could surpass the $45 million mark in 2008, though declining demand might lessen the final tally.

Daily rates at Hotel Pennsylvania presently start at $219 -- that's $30 cheaper than in August. Rates are generally more expensive in November, which is traditionally peak travel season in New York City.

What, you were expecting the posh Hotel Carter?

Now, MTV wasn't around during the Swing Era, but has Kurt Loder and company bothered to peek inside the old Glenn Miller hangout recently?

(Read The Observer's extensive coverage here.)

"Save The Hotel" activist Gregory Jones once took issue with my use of the term "fleabag" to describe the dowdy would-be landmark on Seventh Avenue.

But, come on, luxurious?

"First off, it is doing damn well as a hotel," Vornado CEO Steven Roth said Tuesday during a conference call with investors.

Indeed, the 1,700-room lodge that Vornado previously described as "a placeholder, sort of like a parking lot," brought in nearly $38 million in 2007, as The Observer earlier reported. (That's $10.5 million more than in 2006.)

Imagine how much the run-down hotel might make after a significant renovation, which Vornado is now apparently considering.

“We have two basic grand strategies with this grand asset," Mr. Roth said. "One is, leave it as a hotel, renovate it as a hotel, increase the income coming out of the hotel, and you introduce a very substantial amount of retail in the base of that building—probably three floors worth, and connect it into the Manhattan Mall, so we have an extraordinarily interesting asset."

Of course, the "other opportunity," as Mr. Roth put it, would have Vornado stick to its guns, raze the building and build a huge tower -- "if we can land a major tenant," he added. (Above is a new rendering of what that tower would look like.)

Vornado was reportedly wooing Merrill Lynch to the site, but the financial giant ultimately decided to stick around the Financial District.

In the meantime, the historic lodge continues to make his company some big bucks--netting roughly $37.9 million last year.

That's $10.6 million more than in 2006, according to the company's latest filing with federal regulators, which further added, "This property continues to trend higher in 2008."

With revenues on the rise, does it still make sense to raze it?

The Historic Districts Council (HDC) has formally asked the Landmarks Preservation Commission to hold a hearing on proposals to protect the old McKim, Mead & White-designed hotel, which owner Vornado Realty Trust has threatened to demolish.

"Much discussion, planning and money have gone into the planning of the revival of the Pennsylvania Station area. It is ironic that the Hotel Pennsylvania, designed by the same architectural firm as the station, should not be part of these plans," wrote HDC Executive Director Simeon Bankoff in a Dec. 4 letter to Commission Chairman Robert Tierney.

The old hotel, Mr. Bankoff added, "should not be consigned to the dustbin of history."

Commission staffers previously argued the dowdy yet imposing hotel didn't merit a landmark designation.

A resolution to protect the historic Hotel Pennsylvania from demolition is on its way to the Landmarks Preservation Commission after local Community Board 5 voted 21 to 8 on Thursday night to preserve the circa-1919, 1,700-room hotel across from Madison Square Garden.

Member Howard Mendes called it "a vote of conscience." "You might not love every detail," he said of the McKim, Mead & White-designed building, "but it does qualify... as a landmark."

The resolution passed despite some panelists' criticisms that the building was "not up to McKim, Mead & White's best works," as well as concerns about negatively impacting the related redevelopment of the nearby Farley Post Office.

Started by a small band of computer hackers, the campaign to save the hotel was further bolstered by hotel employees and union members who, for the first time last night, publicly lashed out at owner Vornado Realty Trust's plan to convert the site into an office tower.

"It's time that billionaires like [Vornado CEO] Steven Roth learn that they can't do whatever they want, whenever they want -- you can't just come in and destroy our hotel!" one bellman declared. "To say that we can't do nothing is garbage. We need to make the hotel landmarked."

Supporters compared the hotel to other endangered New York institutions such as Coney Island. One even suggested the hotel was more culturally significant today than Plymouth Rock: "Did Glenn Miller ever write a song called 'Plymouth Rock 1620?'"

Still, some give the resolution little chance of succeeding. Board member Joyce Matz, openly frustrated by prior unsuccessful preservation attempts, warned that the commission "will never designate it." She suggested Vornado itself must be persuaded to preserve the structure, which the company has previously likened to "a parking lot."