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The owner of a Germantown shopping center has taken the first step toward converting the aging retail hub into a townhouse community.

The Planning Board unanimously voted to recommend rezoning the shopping center at the intersection of Mateny and Clopper roads at its Thursday meeting. The shopping center, occupied by a Super Grand grocery store, dry cleaner, beer and wine store and police substation, is no longer economically viable, according Bob Harris, an attorney for Bethesda-based property owner Finmarc Management Inc.

Finmarc has proposed razing the shopping center and building up to 112 townhouses on the 8-acre site.

If the rezoning is approved by the County Council, the proposal must come back to the Planning Board for subdivision and site plan approval.

A 7-Eleven gas station and convenience store on Clopper Road would remain, according to board documents.

The shopping center is small and outdated, Harris said. Tenants are increasingly asking for rent reductions, he said.

Even Super Grand, the center's anchor, has been unable to find success despite paying less than half of the market rate in rent, according to David Fink, Finmarc's principal managing member.

Three nearby residents testified against the proposal, saying that many families rely on the center and that they are concerned about increased traffic.

"The center is extremely viable for Stoneridge, for Cinnamon Woods, for Ashton and for Williamsburg Square in that there are people who don't have cars. They walk to that store and they carry their groceries back," said Cinnamon Woods resident Anne Marie Martinez, who collected 30 signatures in opposition to the change. Business could be boosted with better signage, she said.

Finmarc, which bought the property in 2005, tried to expand the shopping center but could not find tenants, Fink said.

Board members said they were concerned about the loss of the grocery store but that they could only consider whether the proposed density was appropriate in their recommendation.

The county Hearing Examiner will hold a public hearing on the rezoning at 9:30 a.m. April 28 at the Stella B. Werner Council Office Building, 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville, before the Council makes its determination.