And now ... Bexhill's new £22m gateway!

It should be completed by 2006 according to the businessman behind the scheme.

Wealthy property developer Hamayun Khan has been given the go-ahead to build a luxury eight -storey retail and apartment block.

And the Observer can reveal Mr Khan intends to build a matching complex on the Skoda garage opposite - completing a 22 million investment he says can be 'the gateway to Bexhill'.

The private scheme has been broadly welcomed by councillors as a vital first move in town regeneration.

Either part of the project represents one of the biggest investments in the town for decades.

Shabby shops on the eastern corner of Sackville Road will be replaced by 24 luxury apartments - valued at up to 500,000 - two restaurants and an underground car park. Building is due to begin in the spring.

Mr Khan believes a market exists for the complex, including roof-top apartments with panoramic views.

The scheme casts doubt on any future plan for a controversial hotel complex on the open green opposite.

The planning application for the garage site should go before Rother in January. Speaking to the Observer with business partner, Sanjay Karia, this week, Mr Khan said: "It's a great place to invest. We see this as a beginning to regeneration and want to set an example in a gateway to the town. We are looking to spend something in the region of 22 million and that is a massive injection to the regeneration of the town."

And Mr Khan said he could be tempted to invest yet further if the right locations are available. "It's a seaside town and I love to do projects by the water," he added. "We would be looking to other sites in Bexhill."

Mr Khan said: "It (Bexhill) has a lovely safe atmosphere and there is a huge shortage of flats of this kind and a lot of interest. We could have gone for small flats and could have got more in, but chose not to.

"In the restaurants we want real quality. Whatever we put there will be classy - that's part of my contribution to the town, to produce something that's excellent.

And what if one of the high-street burger chains wanted to set up within the complex?

"They will be told very politely they are not wanted," added Mr Karia.

Mr Khan believes the new development compliments the De La Warr Pavilion's design but is also well suited to the 21st century.

He said: "We could have produced something Edwardian but, I particularly, would have been bored to tears.

"We have gone for something modern and for something exciting that I think will be of the greatest benefit to the town.

"It's difficult to get planning permission for this kind of site (the east side of Sackville Road) and the representatives of the town have been very helpful. I would like to extend my thanks to them."

Darran Cohen, senior manager of Ward and Partners estate agents - acting for Mr Khan's company, Kingston Homes South East Ltd - added: "The next site should be just as exciting. It could be a heartbeat of the town which Bexhill sadly lacks at the moment."

The development, provisionally known as De La Warr Mansions East, is shown in the pictures released by site architects Faulkner Associates. The plan in the aerial image has since had minor alterations.

Should a hotel be built on the Metropole putting green it would stand directly between Mr Khan's development and the sea.

Asked to comment on the possibility of a seafront hotel and the raging debate on the subject, Mr Khan said: "I understand there is a great reluctance for anything to be built on the green."