LIBERTY TWP.

When the $350 million, mega-retail complex Liberty Center opens this fall, the number of businesses operating in this fast-growing township will double from approximately 250 to 500 in one fell swoop.

Thats just one example of the game-changing effects the center one of the largest developments in Butler County history will have on Liberty Twp. and the county, officials say.

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 projects first phase.

Its not a shopping mall. Its 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 Dillards department store, dinner-and-movie theater CineBistro and Dicks 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 Cabelas, which are being built in neighboring West Chester Twp.; the Voice of America MetroParks athletic complex; and the existing West Chester Twp. IKEA, Butler County Visitors Bureau Executive Director Mark Hecquet said.

Its going to bring an attraction thats 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.

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Heres how Liberty Center will change the local community forever