By Ken Alltucker
Enquirer staff writer

The top executive of a private development group in charge of revitalizing Fountain Square said Tuesday there's no guarantee his group will seek to relocate the Tyler Davidson Fountain.

Stephen Leeper, chief executive officer of the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp., acknowledged that a proposal to move the fountain to the square's center has been a controversial point of an ambitious plan to transform the cobblestone-covered square into a park-like setting with shops and restaurants.

The fountain's location "has become the focal point of what we should or shouldn't do," Leeper said Tuesday at a downtown commercial real-estate panel sponsored by the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors.

"We don't even know if we'll move the fountain. It was proposed. It's being discussed."

The development group, known as 3CDC, unveiled its Fountain Square plan this summer based on comments gathered during a half-dozen public meetings in the spring. A team of out-of-town experts and landscape architects hired by 3CDC designed the plan.

So far, the public has expressed mixed reaction. Western & Southern Financial Group chief executive and 3CDC board member John Barrett has been among the critics. Barrett favors keeping the fountain in place and adding several smaller fountains.

And young professionals who gathered at a Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce forum last month said they favored building the riverfront neighborhood known as the Banks and revitalizing Over-the-Rhine before spending millions on a Fountain Square redesign.

3CDC initially discussed the possibility of making the fountain off-limits to the design experts, but the private development group concluded it would be an "unfair challenge" to place such a restriction, Leeper said.

Other ideas for Fountain Square include adding tree groves, demolishing the center stage and eliminating the skywalk link crossing the square. 3CDC also wants a top-to-bottom redesign of the Fountain Square garage, including a new glass-enclosed lobby at the garage's Vine Street entrance.

E-mail kalltucker@enquirer.com