There are new signs that the growing drug development firm Deciphera Pharmaceuticals plans to stay in Lawrence.

Lawrence-Douglas County planning commissioners on Monday will consider a request that will allow the company to create about 10,000 square feet of laboratory space on the second floor of 645 and 647 Mass.

Deciphera President and CEO Dan Flynn said the space will give his company a permanent home rather than relying on the laboratory space the company rents from Kansas University.

“We want to stay in Lawrence, and we wanted a space where we wouldn’t need to move again in a few years,” Flynn said. “We wanted to move into a space where we could grow and expand.”

Local economic development leaders are excited about the latest activity. Beth Johnson, vice president of economic development for the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said Deciphera — which is developing drugs to help fight cancer — is the type of company that could help Lawrence land other bioscience companies in the future.

“When you can say that you have a small company that started here and has grown, it further ingrains in other companies that they can do that in Lawrence, Kansas,” Johnson said.

Johnson and other city leaders said Deciphera is the type of company that could have major success in the future. The company signed a deal in 2008 to collaborate on research with drug giant Eli Lilly and Co. The deal potentially could provide Deciphera with up to $130 million in capital, if certain benchmarks are met.

Deciphera is expected to provide a boost to downtown. The company has had its corporate offices and a small amount of lab space in the 600 block of Massachusetts since the summer. The expansion, though, will allow all 24 of the company’s employees to be based out of downtown.

“We’re talking about well-paid professionals working at that location in downtown who I think can only have positive benefits on the retail area and the restaurants,” said Mark Andersen, an attorney representing members of the Fritzel family who own the downtown building.

Flynn said he can envision the 600 block of Massachusetts Street could accommodate up to 80 Deciphera employees as the company grows in the coming years. The company, however, won’t be able to do manufacturing of drugs in the downtown. The proposed permit would prohibit manufacturing in the space, or any research activities that involve work with radioactive materials, mutagens, carcinogens, known toxins or animal research.

The permit does include a provision that would allow the Fritzels to build, within the next two years, a 4,840-square-foot addition onto the second floor of 645 Mass., if the design wins approval from the Historic Resources Commission.

“Everybody likes it down here,” Flynn said. “When we have guests come in to meet us, we put them in the Eldridge and they really find the whole downtown area to be quaint. It works very well.”

The Planning Commission meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall.