By Logan B. Anderson

DOVER — The city of Dover and the Downtown Dover Partnership took the first step Thursday on a long journey that will end with a renewed central district for the state capital.

During a luncheon at the Schwartz Center for the Arts, officials kick-started work on a new strategic master plan for downtown.

“If we don’t have a healthy heart, the rest of the city is not going to thrive. Downtown Dover continues in my heart to be the heart of the city,” said Mayor Robin R. Christiansen.

During the meeting, Diane Laird, Downtown Dover Partnership executive director, introduced the members of the team that will help the city on its revitalization path.

Last month, the city’s downtown economic development driver announced it had hired Mosaic Development Partners, a design and development firm, to create a plan to transform downtown.

Established in 2008, Mosaic set out on a mission to revitalize neighborhoods and marginalized communities. Its founders, Leslie Smallwood-Lewis and Gregory Reaves, were on hand Thursday to celebrate the start of the master-plan partnership.

To create a mosaic, an artist combines parts of other works or materials into a new unified piece of art. That is the approach Mosaic Development Partners will take to help remake downtown Dover into a rejuvenated area. Part of its approach is to assemble a team that is suited to work on specific projects.

“It’s not just Mosaic. We have five companies that are working on this project. And there may be more but we’re starting with five, and we’re just very excited about it,” Mr. Reaves said.

On Thursday, Mosaic leaders introduced the team it has assembled to work with Dover. Econsult Solutions Inc. will provide consulting and data analytical services. Bernardon — an architecture, interior design and landscape architecture firm that recently helped the city of Allentown, Pennsylvania, with a similar revitalization project — will help with design. Kimley Horn is a leading planning and design firm that will focus on issues relating to transportation in downtown Dover. The fifth company is Connect the Dots, a community engagement firm that will coordinate gathering the public’s input for the project.

The meeting was attended by city and county staff members, downtown business owners and elected officials.

When asked what they might like to see in downtown Dover, the suggestions included a new sports venue, more restaurants and condo-type housing.

The team will get to work shortly. It plans to start its outreach with an online survey in a few weeks. This spring, it will move into a discover phase where it will gather more data on the 250-acre downtown district. Next, it will spend most of the summer working on ideas and strategies. It will then wrap up its work and present a new master plan in the fall of 2022.

“The first thing we want to do is come in and listen and hear your issues, needs and concerns, your wants and directives. We have a lot of ideas about what we think is possible for this neighborhood in this community, but those ideas really don’t matter until we’re really interacting with you on a regular basis,” Mr. Reaves said.

After the introductions were made, DDP Board of Directors President Todd Stonesifer asked the Mosaic team what makes this revitalization plan different from other initiatives in the past.

“What makes you think that you can get this study not to be put on a shelf and to actually put shovels in the ground?” Mr. Stonesifer asked.

Mosaic answered that they are designers but also real estate developers.

“The fact that Mosaic are developers puts us in a unique situation,” Ms. Smallwood-Lewis said. “We come in with a different mindset. As a developer, the ultimate goal is to see investment, to come in and to look at potential projects from a very realistic perspective.”

Ms. Laird said that one of the reasons the DDP chose Mosaic was because “they will come with a plan and a bulldozer.”

Thursday’s kickoff meeting was just the beginning. The strategic master plan will be finished later this year, but the work it identifies isn’t expected to be complete until 2030, Ms. Laird said.

For more information on the DDP or the master plan process, visit downtowndoverpartnership.com.