Just as some background - it was an animated cloth object with physics, collision, and some hooks. I "applied" all the modifiers when I liked its look, but now I'm searching for some setting that is keeping it from rendering.
Originally I was using cycles engine to apply materials, but I switched to the blender renderer and applied a new material. Could this have been the problem?
Restrict Rendering
option turned on. Turn it off and it will be rendered. See wiki for more info. $\endgroup$