PROVIDENCE — The state and city plan to announce today that they have hired a Cambridge, Mass., firm to devise a plan for selling the 19.2 acres of developable land that will be uncovered when a stretch of Route 195 is moved south of the hurricane barrier.

The chance to build fresh on new land in the middle of the city has drawn national attention from developers and local interest from hospitals and colleges.

Nine partnerships from around the country bid on the chance to craft the marketing analysis and strategic plan for the land. The winning team, led by Chan Kreiger Sieniewicz, has Providence ties and has worked on several major projects in the area.

“We were impressed by the quality of the proposals, excited by the level of interest in this game-changing opportunity,” said Saul Kaplan, head of the state Economic Development Corporation. “We looked at relevant experience. We wanted a group that had worked on urban waterfront, big development projects. And they clearly qualify for that.”

Moving Route 195 south of the hurricane barrier will open up 36 acres of land between Providence’s downtown and its Jewelry District. Eight acres are set aside for two waterfront parks lining the Providence River, potentially linked by a pedestrian bridge, while eight more acres will go to laying new city streets where the highway used to be. The rest can be sold for development.

The Cambridge firm will be paid roughly $250,000 to develop a plan that analyzes market demand and determines what good prices would be for the approximately 20 parcels that would be up for sale. The plan will outline an order for selling off the parcels, and judge who would be likely buyers based on the size and location of each lot. The plan should be complete by December.

“The I-195 corridor relocation project has been long in the making. It will be a transformative endeavor for central Providence, and the city must make certain to take full economic real estate and neighborhood planning advantage of its potential,” wrote Alex Krieger, a principal in the firm, in his proposal seeking the contract.

Krieger himself is a Harvard architecture professor who knows Providence well, having served as adviser to the Capital Center Commission from 1990 to 1998. His firm developed a 1996 master plan for the Rhode Island School of Design, and worked extensively on Boston’s Big Dig, and on major redevelopment projects in Dallas, Detroit, and New Orleans, among many others. The Cambridge firm has partnered with international real estate investment firm Jones Lang LaSalle, with Austin, Texas, zoning consultant Code Studio and with Providence engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill on the project.

The EDC, the Department of Transportation and the City of Providence jointly picked the CKS team. DOT director Michael Lewis knows the firm from his time in charge of the Big Dig project, where he was at the helm from 2000 until the end of 2007. He called CKS’ hiring “an important next step in optimizing the value of the relocation property and achieving the economic development objectives of both city and the state.”

CKS must now create a plan that will meet the various needs of all three of its masters: the city wants to increase its tax base and create a mixed-use neighborhood featuring high-rise office development; the EDC wants the area to host high-wage, high-income jobs a while the DOT needs to sell the property for the highest possible return, to help pay for the $610-million highway relocation.

A 2007 financial report on the Route 195 relocation project listed the expected sale value of the 19 acres of developable land at $63.4 million. The existing highway is scheduled to be mostly removed by 2012.

dbarbari@projo.com