WATERVILLE -- Kevin Bunker hopes to turn the old Gilman Street School into affordable family housing. He also wants to renovate the gymnasium and allow the city to use it again.

"I think it's a great use for the site," Bunker said Monday. "It's a natural fit for affordable housing. It's a great building. It's a building that's got to be saved."

Bunker is a member of Developers Collaborative Developers, of Portland, which is under contract to buy the building from Peter Arena of Brunswick.

Bunker will be at Tuesday's city council meeting to answer questions about the proposal, which he says is in the conceptual stages.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the council chambers. Councilors will consider referring to the Planning Board a request to change the terms of the property's current zoning to allow for such a development there.

"This is just a referral to the Planning Board," City Manager Michael Roy said Monday. "It has to come back to the council for approval. It's got a number of steps to go through."

Bunker and his team, including Richard Berman and Jim Hatch, have completed a number of successful projects, including Brick Hill, the former Maine Youth Center in South Portland. The team transformed the center into a mixed use of offices, affordable housing, market rate condominiums and open space.

They currently are turning the former Maine State Prison site in Thomaston into a mixed-use development as part of a public-private partnership. The 15 acre site will include a residential health care and assisted living facility, as well as market rate condominiums, a medical clinic and YMCA satellite location.