Some of the people who run the Kidzu Children's Museum were disappointed when the Town of Chapel Hill recently put the kibosh on a proposal to move the museum into the downtown post office building.

But that may turn out in the end to have been the best thing that could have happened.

Kidzu, which has been a spectacular success in its spot on East Franklin Street, needs a new home. The current location never was intended to be permanent, and the museum needs more space. Kidzu wants to stay downtown, and anyone who cares about downtown surely wants Kidzu to stay there, too; the museum has drawn thousands of families and children to Franklin Street and formed wonderfully productive collaborations with downtown partners, including the university.

The idea to move the museum into what is now courthouse space in the post office building seemed to have some promise. But at a recent meeting by the Council Committee of the Whole to Discuss Kidzu (there's a great name for a band), that plan was rejected, largely because law enforcement and the court system need the space.

Kidzu is looking at least two other potential sites. One is a wooded, 2 1/2-acre tract somewhere near downtown Carrboro -- neither the specific site nor the donor has been made public -- and the other is atop the Wallace Parking Deck in downtown Chapel Hill.

The Carrboro site sounds lovely, but of course it isn't in downtown Chapel Hill. That's not necessarily a deal-killer, but Kidzu officials have emphasized how much they value proximity to the university; student volunteers are a key component in Kidzu's staffing.

If you've been on top of the Wallace Deck, you may have noticed that there's no building there. But the deck apparently was built with the intention of eventually putting a good-sized structure on top. The town has offered to do a structural engineering study to determine whether a building suitable for Kidzu could be built there.

If that pans out, and if all the other factors can be made to work, it offers a lot of potential.

The open plaza area already on top of the deck could offer possibilities for outdoor events. And, as Jonathan Mills, chair of the Kidzu board, pointed out, visitors could reach the site from any of three main downtown parking lots -- the Wallace Deck, the deck on the north side of Rosemary Street, and Municipal Lot 2 -- without having to cross streets. That's a big plus for parents with youngsters in tow.

Another potential upside: Kidzu could build a building specifically designed to be a children's museum, rather than retrofitting an existing space. Executive director Cathy Maris notes that it's relatively rare to be able to both locate in an existing historic business district AND build a brand-new building.

No site is perfect, of course. The Wallace Deck isn't visible from Franklin Street, and the top of it isn't really visible from Rosemary Street, either. Signs at street level would be necessary to direct people to the museum.

It will be a complicated process. But the potential benefits to both Kidzu and downtown are sufficiently significant to make it well worth the effort.