The Town Council is considering a proposal to convert an apartment above the Edward Jones Investment and Cape Mortgage Company, in front of the Community Center, into office space.

Town Manager Michael McGovern has requested the council add to their Feb. 12 workshop agenda an item to consider changing the space from a residential to an office use.

The Town became landlord to the apartment at 343 Ocean House Road when it purchased the former Pond Cove Millworks building for use as a community center. The retail space, which used to house Pond Cove Paint, was converted to office space, but the apartment and its tenant remained.

"We had inherited the old rent from the previous owner and it was just $300 per month," said McGovern in an e-mail to Town Councilors and town staff. The apartment has been vacant for the last few months, however, and if the Town sought to lease to a new residential tenant the most the Town might realize would be $750, plus utilities, McGovern said.

McGovern is instead recommending the small space be converted into an office use. "The mortgage company that has a small amount of space leased on the first floor is interested in expanding up to the second level and has offered an additional $1,000 per month for the space," McGovern said.

Expanding the office space would increase the mortgage company's rent to $1,500 plus utilities. That, coupled with the approximate $1,200 a month from the Edward Jones lease would mean an income from the property of approximately $2,700 per month, or $32,400 per year.

The rental amounts are approximate because escalator clauses in the lease agreements change the amounts each year, McGovern said.

McGovern noted, however, that the change of use would require approval by the Planning Board, and that the Town Center District in which the building resides promotes a mix of retail, office and residential uses.

"It would be my position before the board that the community center already has much evening use and is vibrant seven days a week, unlike many other office structures," McGovern said. "Because the community center is busy every day from the early morning well into the evening, the apartment is not the most compatible use. The town also has always tried to work with existing businesses in the Town Center in helping them to expand."

McGovern also noted that one of the members of the Town Council is affiliated with the mortgage company, and that he had not discussed this issue with the councilor. At the appropriate time at a meeting, McGovern said, he would encourage that councilor to abstain from all votes and discussion on this issue.