Now and Then: Upward Progress at Former Courtesy Hotel Site

Rising out of the ground where the infamousonce stood, the Alexan at West Hempstead is starting to take shape.

Ever since the hotel was , the developer, Mill Creek Residential, has been forging ahead with plans to construct the luxury apartment complex. The were installed in August, but most of the work in 2011 was performed below or on the ground level, as Mill Creek's V.P. of Development, Maria Rigopoulos, had predicted when she spoke to residents last March.

“In 2011..you’re not going to see a lot of vertical activity," she had told residents gathered at the March 21 West Hempstead Community Support Association meeting. But sticking to the timeline Rigopoulos laid out to residents, the Alexan now towers over the construction fences at the site.

Drive down Hempstead Avenue and across from the newly re-opened , you can now see the first floors of the 150-unit complex.

Check out the time-lapse video above to see shots of the project, from the start of the Courtesy's demolition to now.