say they have already sold 18 of the 20 units.

Planners passed an application for The Palmetto Gardens Project in Flatts last week with construction expected to start on April 1.

The Palmetto Gardens Hotel will be relocated to another part of the site and will have 28 rooms and a spa, restaurant, health club and access to Harrington Sound.

Most of the housing units, which are priced $690,000 upwards, are single level with two bedrooms in an open plan design of around 1,500 square feet.

There will be four clusters of five units, with a penthouse on top of each cluster -- work is expected to take up to 18 months to complete with ground clearance likely to start within weeks.

Owner and developer Jeff Aramal said: "Pre-sales have rocketed past our greatest expectations and we are anxious to begin construction due to the incredible response we have received from the market.

"We're pleased with the response and now were forging ahead.'' Originally he had planned upmarket villas, costing up to $2.9 million each, but Mr. Aramal said there wasn't the demand.

Developers say the new hotel will feature state-of-the-art communications to lure business and leisure travellers.

The current hotel, which is operating on a skeleton staff, will close within the next couple of weeks said Mr. Amaral.

He said: "Seventy-five percent of the staff was made redundant in December when we closed the restaurant.

"We now have six staff who will be made redundant.'' HOUSING HSG PLANNING PLN