More than 600 people have put their names down for 72 luxury flats that have not been built yet.

Developer Ben Cheal said interest in the former Warnes Hotel site on Worthing seafront had been incredible.

Builders are expected to start work on the site at the junction of Steyne Gardens and Marine Parade early next year.

The two and three-bedroom apartments, some of them penthouses, will be completed in 2006, but Mr Cheal has names from all over the world of people who want a flat.

The director of Roffey Builders, in Buckingham Road, Worthing, said: "Interest has been unbelievable. We have at least 600 names on file."

Roffey, which will employ local builders, has wanted to develop the site since 1998 but work was stalled by a public inquiry and Government intervention.

Whitehall finally gave the scheme the all-clear earlier this year and now detailed planning matters are being finalised.

The south-facing facade will have an Art Deco design, while the west frontage, opposite the Chatsworth Hotel, will be Georgian.

Mr Cheal is sure the blend of styles will work, despite concern voiced by conservationists, including the Worthing Society.

When work starts it will mean the loss of hundreds of town centre car park spaces.

The new Warnes will have 100 parking spaces and an indoor swimming pool.

Mr Cheal is hoping to restore an ornate crown that was salvaged from the facade of Warnes Hotel after it was destroyed by fire in 1987.

It was to commemorate the stay of exiled Abyssinian emperor Haile Selassie and his family for about six weeks in the Thirties.