Plans to convert Hangar 61 at the old Stapleton Airport site into an office building got the approval of a Denver City Council committee Wednesday.

Forest City Stapleton, the current owner, is asking the city to rezone the property so the hangar can be redeveloped. The hangar is about 8,900 square feet. Existing zoning limits office use to 5,000 square feet.

Colorado Preservation Inc. is buying the property and working with developer Larry Nelson, who called the building an "icon."

An application to designate the building a landmark will go before the council once the property transfer occurs, which probably won't be until February.

The thin-shell concrete, barrel-vaulted hangar, built in 1959, was placed on the State Register of Historic Properties last year.