A DERELICT town centre office block looks set to be turned into multi-million pound flats.

A developer is buying the Pinnacle, in Victoria Avenue, Southend, with plans to transform the seven-floor building into flats, the Echo can reveal.

The sale, understood to be for a seven-figure sum, is expected to be completed soon, but the unnamed developer would need planning permission for a residential conversion.

Steve Ayers, director of Ayers and Cruiks, the commercial agent handling the sale, said: “It’s due to be completed soon, but it’s basically going to be converted into flats.

“It will be completed within the next three weeks.

“All the buildings in the road are starting to be developed.”

The transaction follows the sale of derelict office block Victoria House, next door, after Southend Council agreed that building, also seven-stories high, could be turned into flats.

It appears Southend Council’s threats to buy up and flatten derelict eyesores Heath and Carby houses, the other side of the Pinnacle, may have prompted the sale.

The dilapidated office blocks, which have been magnets for vandals, have blighted the more modern Pinnacle for years.

The Pinnacle’s owner refurbished its reception in a bid to attract tenants a few years ago, but the sight of Heath and Carby’s broken windows and graffiti put off potential investors.

The council, frustrated over Heath and Carby’s owner’s inaction, threatened to forcibly buy the blocks and turn them into offices, shops and homes.

The buy-out is on hold as the owner, believed to be an offshore company, is negotiating with a private investor over buying them.

Mr Ayers said: “The first thing for the council is Heath and Carby houses. They still don’t know what to do with them.

“They are still considering a compulsory purchase.”

The size of the Pinnacle’s floors has also put off firms, who all only wanted to rent the top floor.

Mr Ayers said: “We did up the entrance, but the problem was there were 7,000sq ft floors and it’s very hard to find someone who wants that.

“They all wanted the top floor for the view.”