CHAPEL HILL - The future University Square is little more than a pile of ideas floating around town right now. Yet, you'd probably be safe betting a dollar that it will include a grocery store.

An information session this past week produced scads of suggestions. One jumped out more than any other.

"If there were a grocery store, I'd walk there every day," said Gail McKinley, a Cameron Avenue resident.

Planners agreed. They said it would be the type of retail that would help create a 12-month community -- a place people visit at all hours and all seasons.

The 12-acre tract fronting Franklin Street was purchased recently by the UNC Chapel Hill Foundation and a development partner, Cousins Properties, of Atlanta. Those firms have hired anarchitect, Boston-based Elkus Manfredi, to start crafting plan.

And officials from all those groups met Thursday afternoon with neighbors, business owners and others interested in the fate of University Square, currently an off-street collection of offices, small shops and Granville Towers, the private residence hall complex for UNC students.

Architect David Manfredi said the idea is to bring a new development close to the street to better fit in with the rest of Franklin Street. Currently, University Square has 700 feet of frontage set 80 feet back from the street.

"The car prevails over the pedestrian," Manfredi said. "We want to turn that around."

And yet, the new project will still likely include a parking structure. While many residents and business owners said they favored a more pedestrian-friendly project, others said parking was key because customers who spend money at University Square businesses drive there.

The meeting elicited all manner of questions and queries.

Several current tenants are concerned about the construction period. The project's management say they'll work with each business owner to find interim space.

A few residents want the project to include public open space, be it a park or a fountain or some other identifiable gathering spot.

Will Raymond, a Town Council candidate, would like some business space to be priced below market rates.

"Something where a local business can get a foot in the door," he said. "I would consider it a failure of the project if all the tenants were chain stores."

The project is still at least four years away. Officials are months from a concept plan, which would be submitted to the town as the first step in what will be a long approval process.

That could take 18 to 24 months, said Gordon Merklein, who is guiding the project for UNC. Then, construction could take two additional years, he said.