A new hotel could finally be replacing a long-vacant lot in downtown St. John's.

The city received an application last week from Montreal-based Germain Groupe to build one of its ALT Hotels on an empty lot on the southeast corner of Water Street and Prescott Street.

The long-standing vacant lot on the corner of Water Street and Prescott Street in St. John's which will be the site of the new ALT Hotel. (Google Maps)

St. John's Coun. Tom Hann expects work on the new ALT Hotel to begin as soon as possible. (CBC) The development would make St. John's the ninth city in Canada to have an ALT Hotel.

The proposed five-storey hotel would have 148 rooms with two underground parking levels and would face towards St. John's harbour and Signal Hill.

According to Coun. Tom Hann, city staff had been in talks with the company for some time over the development, and the city finally received the application last week.

"Staff had been looking at that, and they don't see any problem," he said.

"It went before the Heritage Advisory Committee last week and I understand they approve of it as well."

The lobby of the Alt Hotel in Winnipeg. (Sara Calnek/CBC)

Hann said the company wants to get underway as soon as possible, and the project is now in the hands of designers and engineers.

According to parent company Germain Groupe, ALT Hotels are an "innovative, no-frills-chic concept, combining modern design and eco-friendly features."

"It will probably be very popular because it faces right on the view of The Narrows and so on," said Hann.

"There's not going to be anything striking or out of the ordinary given where it's located and blending with the downtown architecture and so on"

The Alt Hotel in Winnipeg opened in April 2015. St. John's be the ninth city in Canada and the second in the Atlantic provinces to have one of the hotels. (Sara Calnek/CBC)

This week's application is not the first time there's been a proposal for a hotel on the corner of Water Street and and Prescott.

Halifax-based Southwest Properties submitted an application in 2009, but the plans were not in line St. John's zoning regulations.

Tom Hann said the company later came back with a revised proposal, which was approved .However, it eventually decided not to go ahead with the project.