A Harvard Square landmark is set to be reborn through a multimillion-dollar redevelopment that some locals fear could further transform the once hip and bohemian center into a bland beachhead for deep-pocketed corporate brands appealing to moneyed Ivy Leaguers.

“We are hoping we can stay as long as we can. … The big question is how can we continue to do what we do in another location?” The World’s Only Curious George Store owner Adam Hirsch told the Herald, ?lamenting that sales of Curious George books, apparel, toys and games haven’t kept pace with skyrocketing Harvard Square rents.

The popular children’s store is slated to be replaced with a stairwell and elevator as part of the redevelopment of a complex straddling Brattle, JFK and Mount Auburn streets.

“I don’t view this as good guys and bad guys,” Hirsch said. “It’s just interests, and it’s the city deciding what they want their city to be. I’m unfortunately a small player in all of this, and we don’t have much say about what happens.”

Behind the glitzy redevelopment is Equity One, a New York real estate investment trust that bought the trio of buildings last October for ?$85 million.

The plans for the parcel were outlined in a filing ahead of a Cambridge Historical Commission meeting this Thursday. They call for a glassy two-story addition and large rooftop pavilion. Two buildings will be completely gutted, while the other will be rehabilitated, according to the plans.

“It used to be that you find things there that you could only find in Harvard Square. Now it’s the same exact things you see in the Burlington Mall,” said Louie Cronin, a radio producer who once worked in NPR’s “Car Talk” studios in the complex, and remembers its halls filled with tailors, dentists, real estate agents, and a Christian Science practitioner.

“It was one last vestige of the eccentric Harvard Square,” said Cronin, whose novel about gentrification in Cambridge — “Everyone Loves You Back” — will be published this month.

Now, she fears the location will become a “huge advertisment for any company who wants to have its brand showing” in Harvard Square.

Urban Outfitters, another tenant in the building, didn’t respond to a request for comment on the redevelopment. Other tenants include: Tealuxe, a tea shop; the B.F. Skinner Foundation; violin bowmaker David Hawthorne; Tess & Carlos, a woman’s apparel store; and dentist Dr. Peter McDonald.

In a conference call last year, Equity One CEO David R. Lukes described the building as a “rare find” with “overwhelming demand,” below-market leases that expire soon, and supportive zoning. Company representatives didn’t respond to emails requesting comment yesterday.

The redevelopment plans may “have the potential to really impact the fabric of the community,” said Harvard Square Business Association director Denise Jillson, also a tenant in the building.

The move comes as the future of the iconic Harvard Square newsstand, Out Of Town News, is also up in the air.