Whatever happened to that really ugly hotel planned for the Bowery?

Mystery Building Week continues. (See here and here for previous installments.)

The Salvation Army's East Village Residence closed here at the Bowery and East Third Street in August 2008. (Find some history of the space here.)

[February 2011, of course, because it doesn't snow here anymore]

And all was quiet for a few years. Until Jan. 11, 2011, when Lois Weiss at the Post reported that the France-based Louzon Group had bought the building and were planning on opening a new hotel here. Across the way from the Bowery Hotel. And two blocks from the then-Cooper Square Hotel (now the Standard East Village). Not to mention the rebranded Whitehouse Hotel and Hostel across the street. And close enough to the 569 hotels planned for the Lower East Side.

Remember the first rendering?

[Via Curbed]

Then! The next rendering! Keep in mind: This is not a joke.

[Via the Observer]

And yes — that's a Jumbotron up there.

As you'll recall, the reaction was... brutal? My favorite comment, via the EV Grieve Facebook page, came from Luc Sante:

It would be cheaper and more useful just to blow up the building and leave a 30-foot crater.

Anyway! Two years later, there's no sign of this hotel. (Which is a very good thing...) There's nothing on file for the property with the DOB. No demolition permits in the works. Nothing.

Did the Louzon Group changed its mind? They paid $7.6 million for the property. Anyone know what's going on with the space? Let us know via the EV Grieve email.

[Image created by Shawn Chittle]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reactions to new Bowery hotel: 'It would be cheaper and more useful just to blow up the building and leave a 30-foot crater'

Why do the French hate us?

Ludlow Hotel is starting to look like a hotel

A few things here on Ludlow Street ... where work continues at the longtime-coming Ludlow Hotel, subtly nestled next to the Ludlow...

[Last week, probably]

First, a reader sent us this close-up shot of the hotel... so we're posting it. Look, bricks! Windows!

...and secondly... the Ludlow Hotel is on this month's CB3/SLA committee agenda for a liquor license ...

In October 2011, Curbed reported that BD Hotels — the team involved with the Maritime, Chambers, Greenwich, Jane and Bowery hotels — bought the stalled site for $25 million.

For more on the background here, you can check out BoweryBoogie and The Lo-Down.

Previously on EV Grieve:
People behind fabulous hotels opening another likely fabulous hotel on Ludlow Street

Actual work being done at the long-stalled Hotel Ludlow site

People behind fabulous hotels opening another likely fabulous hotel on Ludlow Street

A record — two posts on 180 Ludlow in one day. Earlier, we mentioned that there were new lights on the loooooooooong-dormant apartment-hotel-apartment-no-a-hotel! site just off Houston. Well, you can thank the new owner for the illumination. Curbed is reporting this afternoon that BD Hotels have purchased the parking garage space for $25 million. BD operates such hotels as the Maritime, Jane and Bowery hotels.

As BoweryBoogie noted, "Expect construction to resume at the 170-room eyesore in due course."

Lordy.

[Image via Curbed]