The Whitehouse Hostel on the Bowery is 'temporarily closing down'

[EVG file photo from June]

It looks like the end might finally be here for The Whitehouse Hotel, the hostel/flophouse combo on the Bowery, which has been on Deathwatch for years now.

A sign on the front door at 338-340 Bowery between Great Jones and Bond points out that the hotel is no longer accepting reservations after tomorrow... and that they are "'temporarily closing down" …



There's nothing on the hotel website indicating a closure (other than that when you go to book a room, there aren't any availabilities through next September).

A little recent history. The Commercial Observer reported in early May that hotelier Sam Chang had the property (officially called Bowery's Whitehouse Hotel and Hostel of New York) in contract to an unknown buyer for $12 million. (The owner's name hasn't hit public documents just yet.)

At that time, we noted that DOB records indicate new plans for a 9-floor hotel with a proposed 68 rooms. (Total cost of the project is listed at $5 million.) Michael Lisowski of Otte Architecture is the architect of record.

It's not clear if the Whitehouse would be demolished for the new hotel, or if new floors would be dropped on top of the existing structure.

According to the DOB, the city disapproved the hotel plans on June 10.

In 2011, the hostel spruced itself up to appeal to the backpacking set. (For $45, guests can stay in a tiny room where the walls don't go up to the ceiling.)

The days of the SRO on the Bowery are winding down, of course. The owner of the Sunshine Hotel recently announced plans to downsize and convert the second and third floors of the SRO at 241 Bowery into commercial lofts. Meanwhile, the Ace Hotel is taking over the former Salvation Army-owned building at 225 Bowery.

Previously on EV Grieve:
More tenant meetings for White House residents; plus the bed bugs will be exterminated

Another round of plans to convert the Whitehouse Hostel on the Bowery into a 9-floor hotel

Nearly 4 years later, sidewalk bridge removed from 338 Bowery

Wow. Something seems awfully strange walking on the west side of the Bowery between Bond and Great Jones... Sunlight! On the sidewalk! (Is that a song? — "Sunlight on the Sidewalk.")

The sidewalk bridge first arrived outside the Whitehouse at 338 Bowery in September 2009 for, according to permits, "emergency repairs." Nearly four years later, those emergency repairs must have finally been completed!

The sidewalk bridge even predates the Subway that opened in the former Downtown Music space next door ... the thing even prevented the Subwayers from finishing the paint job outside...



Perhaps it was the Subway manager who complained in December 2009 that he/she could not put up a business sign because of the sidewalk shed...

Not that the sidewalk bridge prevented Subway from advertising out front...




As for the Whitehouse Hotel, the hostel/flophouse combo that was barely hanging on and retaining some of the Bowery edge of yore, it appears safe... developer Sam Chang wanted to build a nine-story hotel on the carcass ... but those plans never materialized ... and the Whitehouse hung on, and after $100,000 of glammed up improvements and renovations, reopened as the Bowery's Whitehouse Hotel and Hostel of New York in January 2011.

And now they have their sidewalk and sunshine (and rain) back.