Forget about a downtown Nordstrom; Cincinnati doesn't need a new department store.

        Tear down the Regal Hotel, put the convention center there instead of across Interstate 75. Change the focus of conventions, go high-tech and international.

        Find a way to link downtown to the university; think trolley system.

        These are the initial recommendations of a panel of national urban experts who spent a week studying Cincinnati. They also urged a group of business and civic leaders Friday to reconsider several major downtown projects.

        The Urban Land Institute panel also said the city's urban core needs to be treated as if it extends from the river to the University of Cincinnati, and from Over-the-Rhine to the West End. It's not just a few blocks downtown.

        “There were some potentially breakthrough ideas,” said Joseph Kramer, chamber of commerce vice president.

        “Especially the convention-center idea. It does a couple of things. It breaks the logjam about where to build it and gives us a chance to capture the retail market.”

        Officials have been waiting for the ULI study since November, when Nordstrom pulled out of a $48 million deal to build a department store at Fifth and Race streets.

        City officials paid the panel about $110,000 to come up with a new plan for the site and for the retail district called the Race Street corridor.

        What they got instead was advice to stop calling Race Street a corridor.

        Instead, think of it as a crossroads that has the potential to connect downtown with several neighborhoods, the panel said.

        The cornerstone would be a convention center expanded east on Fifth across Elm Street, where the Regal Hotel is located, all the way to Race. The new center would house specialty stores, restaurants and boutiques in its first-floor store fronts.

        That is different from the current plan to stretch the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center westward, across Interstate 75. Those plans call for a $335 million expansion.

        But the ULI panelists said the city would be better off with a smaller convention center expansion. The center should cater to specific types of events, rather than competing with other cities' bigger venues.

        “We're advocating you compete in a whole new market,” said panel member Linda Walchli of Seattle. “You want people to spend money here.”

        Because of the city's reputation as a corporate center and its access to an international airport, Cincinnati could create a niche for international business conventions, which could bolster the local economy in a way that regional conventions — such as boat and car shows — never will, the panel said.

        Michel Sheer, president of the Greater Cincinnati Hotel/Motel Association, said the idea is exciting.

        "They really understand and grasp our situation,” he said of the panel. "They are talking about the right size and the right place we need.”

        But razing the Regal is controversial. It is in the middle of a $17 million renovation, and there are no plans to change the schedule, said General manager, Rob Gauthier, who did not attend the ULI meeting.

        Panelists suggested that the Regal's owners be compensated by being granted the rights to rebuild the hotel atop the new convention center.

        “In exchange, there will be an opportunity to build a brand new, wonderful and desirable hotel,” Mr. Sheer said.

        Beyond the convention business, the city must bolster its local economy by continuing to build downtown housing, adding thousands of units over the next few years, the panel suggested.

        They advised concentrating on mixed-use developments, combining retail, residential and office space, while staying away from thebuilding of giant office towers.

        Downtown also needs more obvious links to the university area. Instead of trying to coax suburban shoppers downtown, the city should connect neighborhoods with a trolley system, similar to those in San Francisco and Portland.

        The trolley could travel to historic sites, with stops at Music Hall and Findlay Market, as it travels through neighborhoods and up Vine or Race streets toward the university.

        “Thank you for noticing what the city has to offer,” City Manager John Shirey told the panel. “We are sometimes our own worst critics.”

        The panel also advised creating a riverfront entertainment district around Cinergy Field and cautioned against building a hotel on Fountain Square West or subsidizing any future downtown hotels.

        The ULI, a non-profit planning group based in Washington D.C., last convened a panel in Cincinnati in 1993. Its recommendations eventually led to the creation of Downtown Cincinnati Inc., and the development of a Lazarus Department Store.

        The ULI panel will be writing a report on Friday's recommendations that should be available in six weeks.

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