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Wheaton Urban District planners say they should have a proposal ready to find a master development team to redevelop downtown Wheaton by the end of the summer.

The proposal would offer about five acres of the county- and Washington Metro Area Transit Authority-owned land in downtown Wheaton to a developer with the intention of creating a large, mixed-use town square within the central business district.

Planners expect to have a short list of developers by the fall and hope to be in "serious negotiations" to choose a development team by the winter, with the redevelopment project in full swing by early 2010, said Rob Klein, the director of the Wheaton Redevelopment Program.

Klein said it's likely that several developers would be chosen to work on different sites within the proposal. He said it's premature to know whether the county would lease or sell the land to the developers because it depends on whether the projects slated for the area are private or public.

He also said officials are in the process of allotting funds in the Capital Improvements Project budget to finance the project and put a price tag on the value of the land to be offered.

Other than basic requirements such as growth centered around the Wheaton Metro station, buildings certified by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and pedestrian-friendly mixed-use development, planners are leaving options fairly open for those developers, Klein said.

"We want their brain power, not to tell them what to do," he said.

However, there will be some boundaries.

Klein said the county also will consider recommendations made by the International Downtown Association panel, a worldwide coalition of urban planners that provides consulting to downtown areas in Wheaton's redevelopment. The IDA panel suggested creating a town center in Wheaton and relocating the library downtown to anchor an arts and cultural center.

And the redevelopment process for Wheaton is happening in tandem with the update of Wheaton's 18-year-old sector plan, which will set new zoning, transportation and environmental guidelines in Wheaton.

But Klein said an updated sector plan is more of an opportunity than a hindrance because it "gives a nice foundation" for redevelopment.

It also mirrors the Silver Spring redevelopment process, which found several master developers as its sector plan was being updated to develop the area around Ellsworth Drive, with one, The Peterson Cos., serving as the property manager.

The Wheaton redevelopment project will get an added boost of Silver Spring manpower in the form of Gary Stith, the former director of the Silver Spring Regional Services Center and the current deputy director for planning and special projects with the county's Department of General Services.

Stith, who spent much time guiding Silver Spring's redevelopment in the 1990s, said he now has a special focus on Wheaton.

An immediate one is to make Wheaton as attractive as possible for developers, he said.

To do so, Stith said the county is working on upgrading Wheaton's utilities and streetscapes and giving grants to property owners to improve their facades.

Stith added that Silver Spring was in much worse shape, with about 25 percent retail vacancy rates, before it developed than Wheaton is now. Wheaton has single-digit vacancy rates, Klein said.

And unlike Silver Spring before its redevelopment, Stith said he doesn't think developers perceive Wheaton as a weak market in which to invest.

"I don't think it's going to be too tough of a sell," he said.

In the meantime, Klein said urban district planners are getting permission to use several key downtown properties owned by the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority to include in the proposal, including the bus bay at the Metro station that was slated for a mixed-use project before Greenbelt-based Bozzuto Development Corp. withdrew its intent to build the project earlier this year.

As for the stickier issue of working with property owned by private landlords, specifically around Parking Lot 13 near Veirs Mill Road, Reedie Drive and Georgia Avenue, both Klein and Stith said they will help the master developer work with landlords to form a public-private partnership.

Klein said he's optimistic that the pendulum is almost in full swing for redeveloping Wheaton.

"Things have a way of materializing when all the parties come together," he said.