LIBERTY TWP.
Details of a public debt issue have yet to be finalized for construction on a mega retail development slated for Liberty Twp., and no new tenants have been announced, causing the developer and local government representatives to miss another deadline for the building project.
Columbus-based developer Steiner + Associates, the same developer of Easton Town Center in Columbus and The Greene in Beavercreek, plans to build an approximately 1.4 million-square-foot mixed-use shopping, office and residential complex at the intersection of Ohio 129, Interstate 75 and Liberty Way. The projects first phase is expected to be a more than $300 million investment encompassing 65 acres.
Liberty Center, as the projects called, would have a similar tenant lineup as Easton, developers say. However, Liberty Center initially will be bigger than Easton or The Greene were when they opened, Steiner + Associates founder Yaromir Steiner previously told this newspaper.
The developer and local governments Butler County and Liberty Twp. missed a March 1 deadline for securing public financing, and naming additional tenants.
Some requirements were met, however. They include buying the final piece of land, and forming a homeownership association for the propertys future maintenance.
The project is moving along just fine. Probably the most important date from the countys perspective is the opening date, which is and remains September 2015, said Butler County Administrator Charlie Young.
Its been nine months since a master development agreement was reached between the developer, county and township. The agreement, signed July 2013, committed a maximum $43 million in public money for the project, and in exchange, the contract placed a number of safeguards for protecting the government investment.
Among the safeguards was a so-called trigger date. Certain things were supposed to have been completed by Nov. 1, 2013, or else the contract could be terminated with no obligations. They included having the projects public and private financing in place, and for more anchor tenants to have signed leases, according to a copy of the public agreement.
Tenants announced to date are department store Dillards and dinner-and-movie theater CineBistro.
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