The development by Steiner + Associates of Columbus is also estimated to create 3,500 new jobs from its retailers, restaurants and other businesses and generate $500,000 to $800,000 a year in income tax revenues for the township by 2018.
The mixed shopping, dining, residential and office center is being built at the intersection of Interstate 75, Ohio 129 and Liberty Way. Construction started in 2014 on more than 1 million-square-feet encompassing about 65 acres for the project’s first phase.
“It’s not a shopping mall. It’s not just a place to go buy things. It has apartments. It has facilities for offices. It has hotels. It has really everything that a city has and can give the people that live there city living without the crime,” Trustee Tom Farrell said.
Three anchor tenants — Dillard’s department store, dinner-and-movie theater CineBistro and Dick’s Sporting Goods — have been announced along with AC Hotels by Marriott.
Liberty Center will put the Cincinnati-Dayton Interstate 75 corridor on the map as a regional destination joining other tourist draws such as Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s, which are being built in neighboring West Chester Twp.; the Voice of America MetroPark’s athletic complex; and the existing West Chester Twp. IKEA, Butler County Visitors Bureau Executive Director Mark Hecquet said.
“It’s going to bring an attraction that’s going to drive thousands and thousands of visitors,” Hecquet said.
“A visitor coming in spends their money in our community. That money stays here,” he said. “It pays wages, it pays for services, etc., etc.”
And local residents that now travel outside of Butler County for shopping and entertainment will have new options close to home to spend their money.
“We’ve been looking forward to this development since ’08 when the economy tanked and things were put on hold,” West Chester Twp. resident Penny Grove, 67, said.
Grove and her neighbors at the subdivision Harbour Town Village at Wetherington on Liberty Way live directly across the street from Liberty Center, in walking distance. She said they were invited by the developer last October to review the plans and the layout.
“It was superb. Everyone here is very excited about basically having a high-end shopping area directly across the street,” Grove said. “It all just looks first-class.”
The only drawback will be the extra traffic that comes with new development, but Grove also said she’s confident new traffic lights and crosswalks will make it safe.
She’s looking forward to the greenspaces where she can walk and enjoy her morning coffee.
“I love Dillard’s, but I’m not willing to go to the mall in Kenwood. It’s so far away,” Grove said. “But Dillard’s will be my shopping of choice.”
The influx of patrons brought by Liberty Center’s big-name tenants will also help drive foot traffic at surrounding local businesses, West Chester-Liberty Chamber Alliance President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Hinson said.
“The other businesses will be able to feed off the draw Liberty Center will have to a wider audience than just Liberty Twp. and West Chester Twp.,” Hinson said.
While Stephen Nowak expects his Yankee Road shop, Coffee Beans & Brew, will see a short-term hit at the time of Liberty Center’s opening, he expects greater commercial activity overall to give him a long-term boost of customers.
“I believe as a resident, as long as they focus on the infrastructure and make sure it doesn’t get behind on the development, I think overall development is a good thing,” Nowak said.
Other game-changers include new gathering places that Liberty Twp. didn’t have before for things such as holiday tree lighting ceremonies, community events, concerts and marathons, Farrell said. He said a large community area has been incorporated into the facility.
If everything goes the way government officials and the developer hopes, the project will pay for itself from increased property values and generate millions in new sales and income tax revenues. Liberty Center sits in a Tax Increment Financing District, which means new tax revenues generated from the center’s property appreciation will pay for the debt (bonds) local governments committed to it.
The project received more than $49 million in funding backed by taxpayer dollars including bonds borrowed by Butler County, Liberty Twp. and Liberty Community Authority, as well as a $12 million loan from Ohio Water Development Authority.
Other funding will be generated by a 0.5 percent sales fee charged on purchases made at the retail center and an assessment on property owners. The Liberty Community Authority, similar to a homeowner’s association with a seven-member board, will control those funds.
That funding pays for the center’s infrastructure such as streets, parking, utilities and sewer and water systems.
“The township invested into Liberty Center with the understanding that the township and its residents would get sustainable revenue from this development,” Farrell said.
Because the property also sits in an already-existing Joint Economic Development District between Liberty Twp., Mason and Middletown, Liberty Center workers will pay a 1.5 percent income tax.
Estimates are for Liberty Center’s retailers, restaurants and other businesses to create 3,500 new jobs by 2018, according to Liberty Twp. Economic Development Director Caroline McKinney.
The township expects to receive hotel tax revenues as well, according to trustees.
“The township is anticipating increased revenue” to help pay for police and fire protection, Township Trustee David Kern said. “We’re more than confident those increased calls will be more than offset by the revenue from the JEDD.”
In addition to higher tax revenues and sales receipts at local businesses, the construction of Liberty Center is expected to spur unprecedented development of surrounding property. In fact, some new development is already taking shape.
Great Traditions Land & Development Co. of Sharonville, the same developer of Harbour Village, revealed in June plans to develop retail and dining on 18 acres off Liberty Way in West Chester Twp. that would be anchored by Cabela’s Inc. Cabela’s confirmed it intends to open in the fall of 2015 at the same time as Liberty Center.
The Christ Hospital Health Network has confirmed plans to expand in Butler County, but has shared little more in details about the project or investment.
Speculation is that the Mt. Auburn-based nonprofit health network is behind a nearly $17 million land deal in Liberty Twp. east of the Liberty Way interchange with Interstate 75. Three parcels of land at that location sold in October, according to records from the Butler County Auditor’s Office
“First and foremost, Steiner doesn’t have any misses,” CBRE’s Retail Services First Vice President Chris Hodge said. CBRE is a commercial real estate firm.
“It’s a premier site. It’s got great access and visibility. It should pull from northern Kentucky, Cincinnati. It will pull up from south Dayton,” Hodge said.
“It will be truly a regional center.”
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