A controversial hotel planned for a vacant lot on Elysian Fields Avenue on the edge of the French Quarter is back in limbo, after an expert committee that advises city regulators on building projects in historic neighborhoods recommended denial of the project.

The Architectural Review Committee of the city’s Historic Districts Landmarks Commission said the proposed five-story hotel is still too big for the corner lot and is not in keeping with the historic character of the surrounding neighborhood of shotgun doubles and Creole cottages.

The committee’s decision, rendered Tuesday at a packed committee hearing at City Hall, is a setback for NOLA Hotel Group, the Baton Rouge-based developers who have been trying to get their project off the ground for nearly three years.

The Elysian, as

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