By the end of Leander City Council's Jan. 13 meeting, a ten-by-three-foot sheet of paper on the wall was filled with doodles, icons and ideas about how to best market Leander's transit-oriented development district near the city's Capital Metro train station.

After the four-hour brainstorming session, Alan Colyer, director of planning and urban design for M. Arthur Gensler Jr. & Associates, said that poster will help the city tell its TOD story.

"A destination, a place to stroll, the next urban center," Colyer read from the poster.

In December, City Council hired Gensler for $54,000 a year plus reimbursable costs to promote the 2,300-acre site to developers. City leaders have said they want to keep a mixed-use vision for the TOD, creating a pleasant and walkable experience with restaurants, retail and residences. The train station would be more than a park-and-ride destination.

Gensler Marketing Coordinator Andy Waddle said the firm will assemble a website, which first requires defining the TOD and outlining the project's priorities, audience, vocabulary and tone.

Councilwoman Kirsten Lynch asked if the website is meant targeting developers or final tenants.

"I think it's got to be a little of both," Waddle said.

Tom Yantis, director of city development services, said the marketing will evolve over time.

One vital question is whether marketing will focus on the TOD or be broader, Colyer said.

"Is it a Leander story?" Colyer asked City Council. "When this becomes built, does this become the focal point—when you say, 'Leander,' this is what you're thinking about?"

City Manager Kent Cagle cautioned against diluting the project's marketing message.

"We started out [asking]: how can we get someone to build what we want in the TOD?" Cagle said. "If we start talking about Leander as a whole and the school district and families, it's great, but that's not why we started."

Either way, the council and representatives from Capital Metro and Austin Community College—which is planning a campus in the area—agreed that they wanted a new direction for the TOD. An attempt in 2012 to market the TOD as "Legacy Landing" seemed too old-fashioned to the council, Councilman Jason Dishongh said.

Mayor Chris Fielder agreed the city must outline its TOD story, even as the council and the Leander Planning and Zoning Commission plan updates to the TOD's Smart Code.

"I think we've been telling the wrong story; we need to get the story right," Fielder said.

Dishongh said he didn't want the TOD to become another version of 1890 Ranch in Cedar Park.

Bridget Brandt, president of the Greater Leander Chamber of Commerce, said she prefers the city of Georgetown's blend of chain stores with smaller, unique local businesses.

"Apartment buildings are all around, and nothing about that is distracting," Brandt said.

But Colyer said many developers would need persuasion to join the TOD over a more traditional development. City Council could consider moving city administrative offices to the TOD to become an anchor tenant. Otherwise the ACC campus could suffice, Colyer said.

Some city leaders said they wanted to avoid big-box retailers that could drive out small shops.

Chain stores could instead be uniquely built, Councilwoman Andrea Navarrette said. For example, Navarrette said she knew of one Target store that was built in three stories.

Colyer said he recognized city leaders' hopes to base the development on walking, not driving.

"Every 30 or 60 feet, you want a door that takes you into a shop or restaurant," Colyer said.

When the discussion turned to naming the development, Colyer suggested city leaders consider a simple phrase such as "Leander Station," or otherwise include the city's name.

"Leander's kind of a cool name," he said. "It's a nice name. It's a friendly name."

Later Colyer asked city leaders to picture visiting the development, whatever its final form, and imagine how they would want to describe it on postcards.

Lynch's imagined postcard emphasized the beauty she said she wants for the TOD.

"The neighborhood community is delightful," Lynch said.

Fielder likened his vision to quaint yet modern Europe.

"[I] thought I was in Paris with all the shops and people walking down the streets," Fielder said.

Asked to read his imaginary postcard writing, Urban Design Officer Pix Howell drew laughs.

"I hit the first five bars and was impressed by the local brews," Howell said.