The city of Benicia will ask for a use permit Wednesday so Carter Rankin can operate his office and co-working business in the historic Commanding Officer’s Quarters.

The city owns the landmark building at 1 Commandant’s Lane. It originally housed the family of the commanding officer of the U.S. Army’s weapons base in what is now a historic district.

In Wednesday’s zoning administrator hearing, the city will ask for the use permit for an exception to land use regulations of the Public and Semi-Public District.

Rankin is leasing the restored building for his Carter’s Biz Café, and will offer memberships to those with home-based businesses who need a professional setting for client meetings, conferences and other uses.

The City Council approved his lease Oct. 21, 2014, and it is expected to generate $191,724, which will offset some of the building’s deferred maintenance and supplement Benicia’s General Fund, Senior Planner Suzanne Thorsen wrote in a June 1 report.

During its own hearing, the Historic Preservation Review Commission recommended approval of the request, she wrote.

Built in 1860, the building housed a restaurant after the Army closed the Arsenal, but was shuttered for nearly 20 years after a fire. In 2009, the city completed a $3 million restoration and seismic retrofit, then opened the building for lease Jan. 4, 2010.

While on the market, the vacant Commanding Officer’s Quarters has been used periodically for meetings and such activities as Citizens Police Academy scenarios.

During that time, the city kept seeking tenants. After negotiations, Rankin secured his lease, which was executed April 22.

“The proposed use is consistent with the recommendations of the Reuse Plan for the Commanding Officer’s Quarters,” Thorsen wrote.

She explained that Rankin intends to comply with the plan’s public-use mandates by having open houses and other public-access events. He also is planning meetings and seminars on business and entrepreneurial topics, she wrote.

But using the building for office and meeting spaces for businesses falls under the Professional Office and Conference and Meeting Facilities use classification in the Benicia Municipal Code. Those use classifications aren’t allowed in the Public-Semi Public zoning district, she wrote.

However, in the H (historic) Overlay District, a use permit for an exception can be granted if it is necessary for the preservation or restoration of a historically or architecturally significant structure, she added.

Putting the building back in mothballs would expose the Commanding Officer’s Quarters to deterioration from weather, pests, vandalism and other threats, Thorsen wrote, citing data from the National Park Service Technical Preservation Services. Leaving it vacant also would deny the city revenue for its upkeep, she added.

Having a long-term tenant could allow for private investment in the building and its landscaping, too, Thorsen wrote.

“The proposed use for an office and co-working venue is anticipated in the Reuse Plan for the Commanding Officer’s Quarters,” she wrote. “It is an appropriate use for the location, layout and historic character of the building.”

The zoning administrator hearing will start at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Commission Room of City Hall, 250 East L St.

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