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The approximately $350 million Liberty Center development will miss its targeted opening date of Oct. 8, and a grand opening celebration is now scheduled for Oct. 22, according to the project's developer Steiner + Associates.
Only anchor tenants Dick’s Sporting Goods and department store Dillard’s will open for business on Oct. 8, said Beau Arnason, executive vice president of asset management for Steiner.
“The official Grand Opening date was selected after a regularly-scheduled 60-day status review of the project,” Arnason said in an email. “Because of historic rainfall (the most in 144 years during portions of June and July), some site projects such as paving, water proofing and landscaping were rescheduled as weather permitted.”
Construction continues on Liberty Center’s first phase, consisting of just over 1 million square feet of shopping, dining, office and residential space at the intersection of Ohio 129, Interstate 75 and Liberty Way in Liberty Twp.
It’s believed to be one of the largest developments in Butler County history. Estimates are for the center’s retailers, restaurants and other businesses to create approximately 3,500 new jobs by 2018, according to the township.
Local government officials from Butler County and Liberty Twp. expressed no concern about the delays, with Commissioner Don Dixon saying, “We’re close enough we’d call it a win.”
“It’s within October. I knew for the last year being a builder myself that it was going to be tough to make the 8th,” said Butler County Commissioner T.C. Rogers. “We’ve had a lot of rain, but I think they’re on track.”
“What’s good is some of these other projects like Cabela’s and Butler Tech got done a little bit earlier so that frees up the available resources for that project,” Rogers said.
Fellow County Commissioner Cindy Carpenter could not be reached Friday for comment.
Butler County’s Development Department has seen inspection work shift from reviewing concrete and foundation work to mostly inspections of tenant finishes, such as examining drywall and sprinklers at retailers opening inside the property’s enclosed mall, said Director David Fehr.
“At this point when they’re calling for inspections and things, we’re still turning around inspections the next day. I did have to ramp up the hours of our inspectors because of the activity out there,” Fehr said.
At one point, plans to build Liberty Center were delayed due to the economic downtown of December 2007 through June 2009. When talks between the developer and local government staff resumed in 2011, an opening date was set for 2014. That was later delayed to 2015 while dealmakers hammered out a contract for taxpayer-backed financial incentives for the project.
A total of approximately 70 tenants have signed lease agreements so far to open in Liberty Center.
Three anchor tenants — Dillard’s, dinner-and-movie theater CineBistro and Dick’s Sporting Goods — have been announced along with AC Hotels by Marriott and The Funny Bone Comedy Club and Restaurant.
Restaurants announced to date include: Northstar Café, Brazilian steakhouse Rodizio Grill, gourmet burger joint Flip Side, Rusty Bucket Restaurant and Tavern, Brio Tuscan Grill, Cheesecake Factory, Kona Grill and craft beer and pizza eatery Pie & Pints.
"This will not change hiring or costs. The hiring fair is also still on schedule for Tuesday," said Rusty Bucket spokeswoman Samantha Bartlett in an email about the center's opening dates. Rusty Bucket is hosting a job fair from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25, at its temporary hiring office, 7132 Cincinnati Dayton Road. The bar and restaurant will open on Oct. 22, she said.
But not all of Liberty Center's tenants will open with the rest of the complex in October, Yaromir Steiner, founder and chief executive officer of the Columbus-area developer behind the project, said during a May interview. Another batch of tenants including fashion retailer H&M are expected to open in spring 2016.
Approximately $37 million worth of taxpayer-backed bonds were borrowed to help pay for the cost of infrastructure at Liberty Center. The funding was part of a Master Development Agreement outlining terms of the project's tax incentives signed in July 2013 by the township, the county and Steiner.
The rest of the total $49 million in public funding committed to the project includes a $12 million loan approved by Ohio Water Development Authority.
“They had a very aggressive schedule and to be opening in October even though it’s couple weeks later than the 8th, I think they’ve done a great job getting to that point,” said Butler County Administrator Charlie Young.
Written into the development agreement were requirements for private spending during the construction phase to be significantly ahead of public money spending.
“We put a lot of protections in place so the risk was the developers — as it should be,” Young said.
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