THE community-spirited owner of a repeatedly vandalised derelict building is hoping to restore it and open a not-for-profit caf.

Residents in Pill, Newport, say the former Torcross vehicle hire building in Commercial Road is an eyesore.

But owner Adnan Mohammed, of Kirby Lane, Pill, who bought the building for £40,000 in February, said he would be submitting plans within the next week to transform it.

He is hoping to open a non-profit community caf on the ground floor, with the help of Communities First, which will have two flats above it.

Half the business was destroyed by arsonists 15 months ago, and had to be demolished. Mr Moha-mmed, a taxi driver, said he bought the building with his own money after deciding he wanted the building restored to his original state. "I am Pill born and bred and I want to do all can to make this place look better," he said.

"We all need to work together to try and improve our community." Ann Barton, owner of AB Florist in Commercial Road, said she would like to see the building transformed. "It would be nice if it was used as something for kids," she said.

Mr Mohammed has boarded off the site with white boards which he says he is happy for the youths of Pill to decorate with street art. Pill councillor Laura Buchanan-Smith said: "The sooner it's re-developed the better because the whole of Commercial Road is an eyesore from top to bottom."

A spokesman for Newport council said: "The building became structurally unsafe as a result of the fire and was demolished by the council's building control section to remedy the immediate threat to public safety."