HotelChatter

Travelling briefly back in time to the second half of the last decade, Jumeirah Beetham Tower was going to be a 261-room hotel in a landmark building on the southwest corner of Blackfriars Bridge, a plot that had been empty since 2002. Only 64 luxury residences would complete the mixed-use development. Cue an epic financial crisis and the project was shelved.

Almost a decade later, it looks like this ugly piece of bare land will finally be no more: the One Blackfriars project takes the original exterior design from architect Ian Simpson, but plans an all-residence tower and a 150-room boutique hotel instead.

The Mondrian and this as-yet unnamed hotel should bring some much needed life to this dreary corner; check out some construction shots - and a rather depressing alley - in the gallery below.

We did say fourhotels. As we were on our way to the Mondrian / Blackfriars site, we stumbled on a fresh Novotel sign. We had been wondering what this building was going to be, a quick search online tells us we can expect not only a Novotel but also an Ibis, another brand within the Accor umbrella. That tall building you see bottom left in the distance? That's the Shard at London Bridge.

Finally, a few blocks east, behind Tate Modern, there is a construction site that could possibly become the Hilton Bankside. Given that what information we could get our hands on had a 2012 opening date, construction hasn't started yet, and the hotel is nowhere to be found on the Hilton website, we won't hold our breath on that one...

Do you have any scoop on one of these hotels? Tell us in the comments below!

[All Photos: JasonD for HotelChatter]