Future phases of construction at the Liberty Twp. site could more than double the floor space that’s now under construction, according to executives for the project’s developer Steiner + Associates of Columbus.
“The site is really planned for future growth,” Beau Arnason, executive vice president in charge of asset management for Steiner, said.
Liberty Center is the name of the mixed use mega complex being built in Butler County’s Liberty Twp. Construction first started last year. 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.
Estimates are for Liberty Center’s retailers, restaurants and other businesses to create approximately 3,500 new jobs in Butler County by 2018, according to Liberty Twp. Economic Development Director Caroline McKinney.
Additionally, Liberty Twp. Trustees Tom Farrell and David Kern said the center's opening will double the number of businesses operating in this fast-growing northern Cincinnati township from approximately 250 to 500 in one fell swoop.
While the first phase encompasses approximately 65 acres, Steiner owns another 35 acres of land for future expansion at the site, located at the crossroads of Liberty Way, Ohio 129 and Interstate 75 in eastern Butler County. In total, Steiner has local government planning approval to build over 2.5 million-square-feet, Justin Leyda, senior development executive for Steiner, said.
Yaromir Steiner, founder and chief executive officer of Steiner + Associates, has previously told Journal-News that the first phase of Liberty Center is already being built bigger than the company's prior developments were when they opened, including The Greene Town Center in Beavercreek and Easton Town Center in the Columbus area. He's referred to Liberty Center as Steiner's town center version "2.0."
Additionally, unlike Easton, Steiner’s first town center to be built, Liberty Center was initially designed for future expansion in mind, Leyda said. Not only is there more land to spread to, but the existing floor plan for the first phase was designed with more room to fill in extra development.
“Every single project we’ve done is better than the last one and it keeps getting better because we go through a very analytical, extensive process to figure out, ‘okay, what didn’t work at The Greene, what didn’t work at Easton, how can we improve it?” Leyda said.
“It may not be noticeable, but there are subtle improvements and adjustments that have all been made based on projects from two years ago, three years ago,” he said.
For example, there’s room to fit another department store, more luxury apartments and Class A office space on the beginning 65 acres following Liberty Center’s initial Oct. 2015 opening date, he said.
“Those are clean, ready-to-go buildable lots that we can turn on pretty quickly,” he said.
What also sets Liberty Center apart from Steiner’s prior developments is the close integration of mixed uses and a community focus, Arnason and Leyda said.
Centered near the middle of Liberty Center’s layout is a walkable, rooftop garden. There, is a multi-denominational chapel and a community center available for rent for events, weddings and other functions, Arnason said.
“We’re able at Liberty to take the community focus to a new level,” Arnason said.
Town center projects — Liberty Center will be Steiner’s sixth town center to open, not including additional phases of construction at existing sites — have gotten more vertical and taller over the years, Leyda said. Now, office workers will have an amenity to look down on from the fourth floor, the park, instead of gravel or parking lots, he said.
“The way we’re integrating the other uses, we don’t have that at Easton. There’s no residential on top of the retail. There’s no hotel on top of the retail. The design of those community-oriented pieces,” Arnason added.
West Chester and Liberty townships have become a destination location due to commercial projects such as Liberty Center, the $160 million expansion underway of Cincinnati Children's Liberty Campus, and Butler Technology and Career Development Schools' construction of a new bioscience training facility in West Chester Twp., said Joe Hinson, president and chief executive officer of West Chester-Liberty Chamber Alliance.
“We’ve become a small area of farmland now transitioning into a metropolis, if you will, with two central business districts and also now becoming a more regional draw for our entire area including additional states Indiana, Kentucky, as well as Ohio,” Hinson said.
However, don’t necessarily expect Steiner to announce a year from now that it plans to begin construction on the second phase of Liberty Center.
Leyda said the growth will likely be organic and market driven.
Arnason said, “I think the retail components of the balance will be driven a lot based on the success and the demand of the first phase.”
Signed leases and bookings reached this summer and fall will tell a lot about growth opportunities in the coming years, Arnason said.
“If you can’t get a room in the hotel, that’s a pretty good sign we need another hotel up here,” he said. “The office space, when they’re really leasing that heavily, if they’re like ‘oh my gosh, where can we build another building?’ that’s going to start to drive some of that.”
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