A LANDMARK hotel is to be demolished to make way for a new hotel and two blocks of flats.

An exhibition next Thursday will outline proposals for the site of the Wessex Hotel, prominently located on the corner of West Cliff Road, including a "new, upgraded hotel with approximately 100 bedrooms".

The current building has 109 bedrooms, as well as leisure facilities and conference rooms, and it houses the Amalfi restaurant.

According to the proposals by developer Inland Homes the two new apartment buildings will provide around 88 new homes, set in amongst landscaped grounds with underground parking.

The scheme also promises "high-quality architecture" with buildings designed as "traditional style villas".

An Inland Homes spokesman said: "We are looking forward to presenting our ideas for this exciting new development for Bournemouth at the public consultation next week and to hearing local people's views on the proposals."

The building is currently owned by Inland and operated by a firm called Bespoke.

The company plans to submit a planning application within the next few weeks.

Around this time last year the hotel was bought by developer Philip Oram for £3.75 million from LaSalle Investment Management.

In August the Bournemouth Development Company, a partnership between Bournemouth council and Morgan Sindall Investments, revealed plans to build a 44 flat block on the Durley Road car park, adjacent to the Wessex Hotel site.

The new development would be a six storey block with a mixture of one, two and three bed flats ranging “from starter homes to penthouse style units”, the application states, along with 46 parking spaces.

And in February the authority granted permission for the demolition of the Best Western Montague Hotel in Durley Road South and its replacement with 26 flats, six of which will be holiday apartments. Work is under way on the scheme.

The Wessex Hotel plans will be on display in the Shiraz Suite of the Hallmark Hotel in Durley Chine Road on Thursday, October 27, between 2-8pm.