The coming renovation of University Square has the potential to turn an architecturally outmoded retail and office space into one better integrated with the rest of Franklin Street.

Some of our favorite local businesses have their homes in University Square, but they're probably not helped much by the layout of the space itself. The shops and restaurants facing Franklin Street are separated from passersby by a brick wall and then the parking lot, which is patrolled by the mall's famously vigilant parking attendants. The businesses on the back side are invisible from Franklin Street.

The Chapel Hill Foundation, a nonprofit arm of UNC, bought the 12-acre tract, which includes not only the shopping plaza but also the Granville Towers student housing buildings behind it. The foundation has hired a Boston-based architecture firm to redevelop the property. Specific plans are a long way from completion, but the basic idea is to replace the strip mall with larger buildings closer to the sidewalk and street. A parking deck is to be part of the project; it hasn't yet been determined what will happen to Granville Towers.

It's still vague, but it sounds promising, and if the developer proceeds with a close eye on the character of the town they'll be working in, the project could be a real boon to downtown.