Omnia Group and North Wind Group bought The Salvation Army’s Chinatown Corps Community Center at 223-225 Bowery for more than $30M and plan a 180-room Ace Hotel and possibly luxury condos. (Now you know where to stay in five years.)

This morning, Eastern Consolidated’s Alan Miller (right, snapped today with colleague Roberto Ortiz) told us the 10-story, 55k SF former single-room-occupancy hotel (40 rooms per floor) was begging to be a hotel, and the Ace concept won the RFP-type process. Ace (and its cool-cat rep) is the perfect fit, especially because the property backs up onto the hidden Freeman Alley (and nothing is trendier in New York than a public secret).

Bowery is well on its way, too. Roberto tells us the seller was waiting until it found new space of its own (after a seven-year search, the shelter and community center are moving to Brooklyn’s Chinatown). Meanwhile, the general market and Bowery, in particular, just kept getting better, he says. Among hotels on the way nearby are an Ian Schrager property at 215 Chrystie, Brack Capital and InterContinental Hotels' Indigo at 180 Orchard (topped off), and Brack's CitizenM at 185-191 Bowery. The New Museum is on the same block, and loads of subway lines are close. Roberto and Alan have worked with Colliers, which reps Salvation Army, before (Colliers’ Bob Freedman and Jonathan Plotkin worked on this deal), including the sale of 347 Bowery to Louzon Group. (Louzon sold it last summer to Urban Muse, which reportedly plans a 13-story residential mixed-use project.)