Onchan Commissioners will be conducting a feasibility study to see if its own offices could become a ‘mixed use’ development.
It will look into whether Hawthorn Villa could include social housing, commercial space and have ‘appropriate’ room for the authority’s operations.
The property is at 79 Main Road in the village.
Vice-chair Scott Wilson says the plan wouldn’t be set in stone but will help assess if it could reduce the housing waiting list.
He hopes the report will give the board ‘options’.
‘We put the motion forward because there's been lots of discussion around developing, particularly social housing, because there is such a high demand for it,’ he said.
‘We've been chasing lots of land that's primarily owned by the government or by private individuals, and it's not been available for us to develop.
‘What we've done is we've looked at what we own, and I've also gone back and looked at previous feasibility studies that were planned historically that never went anywhere.
‘We've put the motion forward so that we can look to get a feasibility study done on the the villa’s site where the Onchan District Commissioners currently stands, and look to build potentially after the feasibility study results have been received.’
Asked what Hawthorn Villa could include, Mr Wilson said it will mostly be used for social housing.
‘There could also be availability for a shop,’ he added. ‘It could be that, in the grand scheme of things, do the Onchan Commissioners who currently reside in that property stay?
‘Do we put an extra floor in somewhere so we can just move up on top of the building or around the building? We have to take into consideration, obviously, our current commercial tenants as well.
‘It’s all ifs, buts and maybes at the moment.’