Initiatives to revitalize Campustown date back 25 to 30 years, but many of the projects have not come into fruition until recently.

City Council will vote Tuesday to approve an action that will mark one of the first steps to begin the Campustown revitalization process.

City Manager Steve Schainker noted that developing an area like Campustown, which incorporates a number of different property owners, has been a challenge. However, the city identified a plan to rejuvenate the area, thanks to the combined efforts of university and city officials.

In order to be successful in the redevelopment process, the city acknowledged that the process would require an active leadership role from the ISU officials. Schainker established a group of ISU and city officials to convene as the Campustown Redevelopment Committee.

Since the group’s creation in late 2009, members have discussed criteria they are looking for in a developing company, which included a strong development team, project experience of the same magnitude as Campustown redevelopment, commitment to due diligence work and an understanding of project objectives among other criteria.

Beginning Jan. 18, the Campustown Redevelopment Committee hosted meetings with all eight of the developing companies that expressed interest in the rejuvenation project.

After deliberation, the committee selected the company Lane 4 on April 5 to be the master developer for the Campustown revitalization project. Once City Council approves the action, Lane 4 and the city will engage in further negotiations and will eventually begin mapping out plans for development.

Dean Morton, member of the Campustown Revitalization Committee and university architect, said Lane 4 was selected because the company’s previous projects were similar to Campustown revitalization. Lane 4 has also developed properties including areas around the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City.

Morton said as the project develops, the priority will be revitalizing the area, along with focusing on student’s needs. Morton also mentioned the revitalized Campustown should appeal to the rest of the community, but what exactly the desires are thus far in the planning process is “nebulous.”

“We want to have a presence of social life,” Morton said. “That’s about as far as we’ve got”

He noted that as the planning process continues, more ideas for developing the area may come to light.

Although planning is still in its early phases, Morton described the planning process as having an “aggressive” schedule with more definitive plans being drawn up this summer. Next fall, the committee will be putting together actual plans of what sort of commercial development will occur in Campustown.

As the process continues, Morton noted he and the rest of the committee are “cautiously optimistic” about the continuation of the effort.