In 2012, developer Nick Hadim unsealed the closed-off wing of Downtown's Alexandria Hotel, announcing plans to turn the long empty space into apartments.  Six years later, a filing with the Los Angeles Department of City of Planning indicates that the project is finally moving forward.

The eight-story building, located at 218 W. 5th Street, will be transformed into 31 apartments with 2,689 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, according to the application submitted yesterday, which describes a partial reconstruction of the mid-rise edifice.  Steven Fader Architecture, a Los Angeles-based firm which works on historic preservation projects, is listed as the applicant's representative.

Requested entitlements include a zone variance to allow construction to occur without on-site parking, as well as a reduced bicycle parking area at the building's basement level.  The developer has also requested a transfer of floor area rights from the Los Angeles Convention Center to the project site.

The so-called ghost wing of the Alexandria was built as a 35-room expansion of the hotel in the early 1900s, according to the Los Angeles Times.  Its developer, William Chick, built the addition without vertical circulation elements to save buildable space for guest rooms, instead making use of existing infrastructure in the Alexandria.  That decision would prove to be a mistake when in 1938, the owner of the Alexandria closed off access to the expansion wing after a falling out between the two parties.  The ghost wing would remain empty and inaccessible for the next 75 years.

A timeline for the project, which will reportedly be called The Chelsea, has not been announced.