Sacrebleu! Bowery Salvation Army Becoming French Boutique Hotel
By Matt Chaban January 12, 2011 9:44 pm
reprintsWhen CBGB closed and was replaced with a John Varvatos boutique, many an obituary was penned for the Bowery. Between all the new hotels and eateries, the area was over. But today’s news signals a passing of another sort, not of the Bowery’s punk prestige but of an even older legacy dating back at least a century, that of the city’s skid row.
At the corner of East Third Street, the old Salvation Army was just sold to a French hospitality group for $7.6 million, according to The Post (third item), and will be transformed into a 65-room boutique hotel and restaurant. The family-run company operates a number of such operations in Europe and had been looking to make its first foray into the city.
It is not the first time a high-end project has been proposed for the site. A sushi palace was planned two years ago but got torpedoed by the irate neighbors weeping about the degritification of the famed thoroughfare.
Opponents should take solace, though. At 65 rooms, the project seems rather modest compared with some of its outsized neighbors.