While some people work in an office, perhaps in their own cubicles, others have offices at home. Some even get their work done at coffee shops with free wi-fi.

But there is another alternative, and Benicia’s “Queen of the Arsenal,” the Commanding Officer’s Quarters, could be its host. It’s called a business café, a touchdown zone, a co-working space or an “incubator.”

Carter Rankin wants to open Carter’s Biz Café in the Commanding Officer’s Quarters, making it a place where people who work from a home office would have a professional setting in which to meet clients.

The COQ also would be a place where people could work on projects in peace and quiet, or have roundtable discussions or other types of business meetings with the type of amenities one might find in a conventional office space — support office staff, high-speed Internet, even sandwiches, beverages and other light meals.

Rankin described his idea Thursday to members of the Benicia Historic Preservation Review Commission.

“Through mobile technology — a 4G phone and a laptop — you can work anywhere. So why transport yourself to San Francisco?” he said.

The business café concept began in 2005 in that city, developing into Capital One Cafés, coworking locations and Regus, which by now has the largest virtual office space, Rankin said.

He said the Commanding Officer’s Quarters is an elegant building, calling it “five star” and noting that Benicia spent more than $3 million for restoration after a couple of fires two decades ago, when the COQ was used as a restaurant.

And he said he wants a five-star setting for his own coworking office operation, explaining that many on his staff, including himself, have hospitality backgrounds.

“I opened the Concord Hilton,” he said. That hotel was the host site for conventions and meetings.

“Our attitude is you can’t do business unless it’s five-star.”

Rankin said Carter’s Biz Café would be a member-based operation, and members would have full use of the building and its grounds. He said if he and the city of Benicia can come to terms on a lease, residents would be given a discount for membership rates.

Nonmembers could get day passes to use the building, and the public would be able to see the Commanding Officer’s Quarters through tours, he said.

Rankin said he and his team picture themselves as “custodians of the building.” He explained that he has had an office in the Eddy House, a historic building in Concord, and he knows “there are some things you just can’t do” in such a special building.

He said he has been talking with a maintenance company that has experience in dealing with historic buildings, and a landscaper who could help beautify outside plantings.

He also has been speaking with AT&T about wireless technology.

Rankin said he believes he already has the clientele that would fill the building with users.

“We’re a sponsor of meetup groups,” he said. He said his company sponsors 17 groups, with a total of 6,112 members.

Meetup groups sometimes want to have hundreds of get-togethers, “but there is nowhere to meet,” he said.

The COQ could change that, he said, drawing people to Benicia because the building would give them a place to gather.

“It’s a historic resource,” Commissioner Toni Haughey said. “It sat empty, but we got that restored.”

Haughey asked if Rankin would be willing to have some type of project or display illustrating Benicia’s history. He said he’s already thought of that, and wants large screens on the building’s long hallway on the second floor.

Donnell Rubay asked that he provide opportunities for public input on those displays.

Chuck Maddux reminded the panel of how the building had been damaged in the two fires.

“It is very important you people protect the taxpayers’ property,” he said. “Look over the plan with a fine-tooth comb.”

Rankin reminded the commission that he hasn’t signed a lease with the city yet. Until then, there are some subjects that are still up in the air.

But he said he was willing to hear residents’ comments.

“We’re all ears,” he said. “Nothing is set in stone.”