Plans for a 36-bedroom hotel on a high street have been given the green light.
An application to convert the floors above Indian restaurants Mallus and former Nala Bheema's in Maidstone town centre has been approved.
The proposal, which was submitted to Maidstone council in May, has been put forward by developers Doveprop.
It was approved by the local authority last week with the top three floors above 93-95 High Street now set to become a tourist destination.
The Grade II-listed building near the Town Hall, facing Jubilee Square, features an iron façade and is believed to date from 1855.
Between 1865 and 1978, it was home to one of the town's department stores, known first as James S Blake's, and then as Blake and Son.
The ground floor has been used for commercial purposes - and will continue to do so - while the rest of the building has been disused offices.
Mallus will remain unaffected by the application. Nala Bheema's closed due to an unrelated reason earlier this year.
Plans for the hotel will provide guests with their own entrance to the building on the High Street with stairs to a reception on the first floor, which will also feature 14 rooms.
The second level will have 12 rooms, and the top floor will have 10.
Most of them will also have a balcony.
The building extends back a long way, and there is also vehicular access and room in a courtyard to provide two parking bays for deliveries to service the hotel.
Details regarding the future hotel operator have not been provided.
Works to make way for the conversion include an internal strip out of non-original 20th-century dry wall partitions, which will be replaced with new lightweight ones to facilitate hotel room layouts.
There will be no changes to the external doors, windows, or roof structure.
In their application, Doveprop said: "The proposed internal works are designed to be reversible and to have minimal impact on the fabric of the Listed Building.
"By preserving the commercial function at ground floor level and converting the disused office spaces above into a hotel, the development supports the town centre economy, preserves heritage value, and provides a viable long-term use for the building."
One of the aspects the developers have had to consider is the noise intrusion for guests from Maidstone's extensive night-time economy.
Nearby entertainment venues have roof terraces and external loudspeakers playing at night.
Doveprop intends to counter that with "robust noise mitigation measures", including the installation of new internal partitions to form a secondary internal buffer wall behind windows and a 'balcony-type' lobby zone to bedrooms.
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Council planners approved the application, noting "the extent of work proposed would have a negligible effect" on the listed building and would " facilitate the continued use of the currently redundant building".
Doveprop was contacted for further information, but did not respond.