The ugliest building in Sussex could soon be a thing of the past as two eight-storey office blocks have been earmarked to replace derelict Anston House on Preston Road, Brighton, which has been unused for nearly 20 years.

Plans have this week been submitted to Brighton and Hove City Council to knock down the old building and put up two linked towers with space for 509 cars on three underground parking levels.

Anston House had been vacant since 1987 and the area around it had become an overgrown wasteland. Developers Anston Properties said they had been trying to find firms to use the offices for years and realised that the only way to attract new users was to knock down the building and start again.

The block, which has the potential to offer up to 40,000sqm of new office space, is covered in graffiti and has several windows smashed. It was voted the ugliest building in Sussex in a 2004 poll by The Argus.

Over the years there have been numerous applications to demolish the building to make way for new developments, including one for a hotel and others for residential and commercial developments.

Planning permission has been given for at least ten developments, most recently in 2003, but none of the projects came to anything.

Last March, it was feared the old office block, which greets motorists as they approach Brighton city centre on the A23, would lay dormant for another 20 years.

The building's owner, who lives in the millionaire's tax haven of Monaco, said he was putting on hold plans for a development of up to £140 million because he did not trust councillors to approve it.

He said he was wary of taking his plans forward after seeing major schemes elsewhere in the city being rejected.

But less than a year later, councillors and residents hope the latest plans will successfully turn the eyesore into something more decorative.

Richard Mallender, Green councillor for the Preston Park ward, said: "I think it is good they are finally doing something - I would welcome getting that horrible building pulled down.

"But they keep putting planning applications in that people get annoyed about.

"I think a block with eight stories would be fine for that area - it fits in for what is around.

"But underground parking for 500 spaces is completely unnecessary. It is on a bus route and is ten minutes from the train station, it is a doddle to walk to from wherever you are."

Councillor Simon Burgess, leader of the council, said he would welcome something being done to improve Anston House but was unsure the applications would come to anything.