The same land-use think tank that helped create plans to rebuild a post-Katrina New Orleans and post-9/11 Lower Manhattan will head to Raleigh this week to offer advice on one of the largest parcels of land in downtown Raleigh.

The Urban Land Institute will present its thoughts on Dix Hill, a sprawling 315-acre campus just west of downtown Raleigh and home to the state's Dorothea Dix psychiatric hospital.

A legislative task force decided in September to hire the group to study possible uses for the campus after Dix closes in 2008.

On Tuesday night, the task force will host an event to introduce the land-use panel. Starting Wednesday, experts from the institute will meet with the various groups that have expressed an interest in Dix. On Friday, the panel will present its findings to the legislative group. The first and final events are open to the public.

Similar panels gave advice on rebuilding New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and Lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, as well as reusing arenas in Atlanta after the 1996 Olympics.

The future of Dix Hill has vexed lawmakers for five years. Various plans have called for condominiums, state offices, restaurants and shops, a hotel, a botanical garden and a major city park.

The four-member Urban Land Institute panel will include experts on finance, urban planning and local government. The experts will give advice on details such as how to run a park or pay for restoration of historic buildings.

The experts are working professionals who volunteer their time for the Washington-based nonprofit group. Their services, estimated to be worth as much as $250,000, will cost the state about $60,000.

It will not be the first time Dix Hill has been studied.

Last year, the city and the state paid $122,600 to Charlotte-based LandDesign. The urban planning firm came up with proposals for an urban neighborhood and a city park that were not well-received at public hearings.

Four other proposals then came from Raleigh and Wake County planners, park advocates, a group of botanical gardeners and a coalition of historic preservationists.

The 11-member task force of lawmakers hopes to finalize a proposal before year's end so it can be presented to the General Assembly by January, in time for a vote during the next session.

The Urban Land Institute panel will be asked to look at how to organize and finance various options. The panel could give narrow technical advice, or it could make a bolder statement on what should be done.