Vacant flat for sale. Above shop and opposite pub on busy road. No garden or Parking space available.

A heck of a challenge for the estate agent you might think - perhaps something for the pile marked first-time buyers?

Yet in property-crazy Brighton and Hove, this three-bedroom flat sold for £510,000 within days of going on the market.

Despite the drawbacks, the property came complete with one of the grandest addresses in the city.

This is not just any old over-the-shop premises.

New luxury development Palmeira Grande invites would-be buyers to travel back to an "age of elegance" in one of the landmark Grade II-listed building's 14 new apartments.

Situated on the corner of Holland Road and Western Road in Hove, the flats overlook the Floral Clock and are just a short stroll from the seafront.

This is one property where the agents have found no problem getting people through the doors - more than 300 came to view the show apartment within two weeks of it opening.

It is safe to suppose the crowds have been made up of a mixture of the curious and the wealthy, with the cheapest apartment on the market for £279,950.

Five out of the seven flats released have already been reserved and that doesn't include the penthouse, which is yet to come on the market.

Two of the interested parties are from London, three are understood to be local.

Buying one of the flats offers the chance to live in a building once known as the Harrods of Hove.

In its heyday, Palmeira House was the town's finest emporium, selling a huge variety of wares to high-class customers.

Dating from 1873, the building included a reading room and a facility where gentlemen could buy and sell shares on the London Stock Exchange.

It later became Maples furniture store and was most recently home to Michael Norman Antiques until it was sold for an undisclosed sum.

Plans to convert the building into a hotel fell through before Gleeson Classic Homes won permission to create the luxury apartments.

Soon it will house 13 two and three-bedroom flats, all served by a spacious 13-person lift, crowned by a sumptuous four-bedroom, four-bathroom penthouse.

When Palmeira Grande's new residents move in to their new homes in April, they will enjoy a vast array of creature comforts, including underfloor electric heating, video entry security, white Villeroy and Boch bathrooms and individually-designed kitchens with built-in Neff appliances.

Glenn Mishon, of Mishon Mackay, which is conducting the sales, said: "The response to the show apartment has been absolutely magnificent. There have been very few negative comments - only from people who couldn't afford it."

The prospect of living upstairs from a Tesco Metro store was also not putting people off.

He said: "Some people look at it positively. They can just pop downstairs if they run out of milk. The location is the main thing. You are right in the heart of things."

Palmeira Grande's location is being marketed to metropolitan types as something akin to the next Hampstead or Chelsea.

But, as The Argus reported earlier this week, the very independent shops that gave the area that London village character are now being threatened by the property boom typified by developments like the Palmeira.

Traditional retailers are being forced out by steep rent increases and lack of parking.

Parking will not be much of a worry for the Grande's new residents, however.

Mr Mishon said: "The parking issue worried the life out of me before we started marketing the properties but it hasn't proved an overriding factor.

"We have got just two parking spaces. One comes automatically with the penthouse, the other we will put up for sale to the highest bidder when all the apartments are sold.

"But what we've done for the rest is calculate the cost of parking in a bay 24-hours a day for a year. It comes to £680.

"We will give buyers £680 to cover their first year. By then they should have received their residents' permits."

For details on how to view an apartment, call 01273 829300.