It's the Allegheny River's turn. All it needs is a plan.

That's the sentiment behind Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's effort, announced yesterday, to craft a plan to transform a six-mile stretch of riverfront from the Strip District to Highland Park. Plans for the brownfields astride the Monongahela River and the North Shore stadium district yielded big results, so why not plan for redoing the hodgepodge of parking lots, warehouses and industrial properties that stretch northeast from Downtown?

"It's almost like, 'Hey, now it's our turn,'" said state Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park. "This can really be Luke's legacy, as far as I'm concerned."

Despite global jitters, there's reason for optimism on the Allegheny, said Urban Redevelopment Authority Executive Director Rob Stephany.

"I see really vibrant housing markets in Lawrenceville unfolding," he said. "I see the Strip continuing to be one of the most interesting amenities the city has to offer. I see the Cultural District really maturing."

He wants design teams to send in ideas for planning the area. The most experienced team, with the best concept, will get $250,000 to $300,000 to craft a plan.

The plan might suggest uses for the Buncher Co.'s parking lots and the city's tow pound in the Strip District; consider ways to extend Lawrenceville's street grid to the river; address the best uses for the vacant Tippins International mill site in Upper Lawrenceville; and discuss ways to complete the transformation of the Heth's Run part of Highland Park into an ecological and recreational zone.

Lisa Schroeder, executive director of the Riverlife Task Force, said the area is one "where there is activity beginning to perk that makes it the next frontier" in a decade-long push to remarry the city with its rivers.

The Allegheny may be the toughest frontier. Unlike the Pittsburgh Technology Center in South Oakland, SouthSide Works and the North Shore, there is no dominant property owner.

The planning team also may have to find middle ground between today's reality and community dreams. For instance, some parts of the Lawrenceville street grid can be extended to the river, Ms. Schroeder said, but other areas may have to settle for a pathway to the water.

Other parts of the target area have defied easy transformation. The Ravenstahl administration's announcement six months ago that it would seek a private operator willing to take over the tow pound and move it hasn't panned out yet. Until the tow pound is moved, that 2-acre site can't be redeveloped.

An easier site might be the parking lot between 16th and 21st streets. The administration wants planning teams to focus on that plot because it's close to Downtown, and the Buncher Co. wants to develop it.

"That is a site now that begs for a highest and best use, not a sea of parking lots," said Mr. Ferlo.

Results won't be immediate.

"You're talking about something that will take 20 years to do maybe," said Mr. Ferlo. "It starts with the master planning, laying out the vision, looking at the obstacles."

Proposals are due to the URA by Nov. 14, and the winning team would start the planning process in February.