THE FIRST guests will be checking into Southampton's newest hotel by mid-May, according to bosses behind the multi-million-pound redevelopment of Charlotte Place.

The Jurys Inn hotel, artist's impression right, will be the largest in the city, with more than 250 beds.

By autumn, a nine-storey office block on the site will also be opening to Hampshire businesses.

Next week, scores of brochures will be heading out to companies offering them the chance to let 60,000 square feet of the state-of-the-art office space.

Work has been racing ahead on the £45m development, near St Mary's on the edge of the city centre, and builders are now just months away from completion.

It's been billed as a new landmark for the "gateway" to Southampton and will fill the former car park at the centre of the Charlotte Place roundabout.

Also on site will be a 160-space car park, with 80 spaces reserved for office workers and 80 for short stay parking open to the public.

Surveyor Graham Mitchell, of property developers McAleer and Rushe, said: "The site has great views over the park and, being on the periphery of the business centre and close to town, it's a great location.

"It's in the centre of a roundabout but we have made that into something special. It's a landmark building, which hopefully will look very attractive."

Andrew Archibald, of Humberts, which is working with FPD Savills to let the offices, added: "We're just on the brink of launching the formal marketing campaign to sell the office space. It's suitable for a bank or a firm of solicitors or a shipping company."