Pies & Pints owners previously announced their lease, but the northern Cincinnati location was confirmed Tuesday.
The Liberty Center site will be Cheesecake Factory’s second Cincinnati-area restaurant. Kona Grill, known for fresh-made American fare and sushi, will open its second Ohio location when Liberty Center opens next year, according to developers. The first Ohio Kona Grill opens this fall 2014 at the Easton Town Center, another existing Steiner development in the Columbus area.
“Brio, Cheesecake Factory, Kona Grill and Pies & Pints are well-known for their dining and entertainment experiences, and will be great regional destinations for Liberty Center,” Yaromir Steiner, chief executive officer of Steiner + Associates, said in a statement.
Liberty Center is the shopping, dining, residential and office complex under construction now for a fall 2015 opening in Liberty Twp., in Butler County. Construction started earlier this year on more than 1 million-square-feet encompassing about 65 acres. Its been described as one of the largest developments in Butler County history and as a city within a township.
The restaurants will join these anchor tenants already named: Dillard's department store, Dick's Sporting Goods and dinner-and-movie theater CineBistro, as well as AC Hotels by Marriott.
“These announcements help rally the community,” said Caroline McKinney, economic development director of Liberty Twp. “We know the community is anxious to kind of understand some of the names and restaurants behind what’s happening at Liberty Center.”
In the meantime, negotiations on public funding for Liberty Center have entered the final stretch, and local government officials are finalizing the paperwork to protect taxpayers in the worst case scenario that the project fails.
The approximately $350 million total Liberty Center mixed-use project is set to receive up to $43 million in funding backed by taxpayer dollars.
“One thing that I’m most encouraged about is, looks to me like they’ve started the footers for Dillard’s. That’s one of the big anchors of course. That shows they’re moving forward,” said Butler County Commissioner T.C. Rogers.
“We’ve had some things to work out on the bond language, but we’re getting that worked out I anticipate this week,” Rogers said.
It’s expected that $31 million worth of public bonds will be issued by Butler County Port Authority, on behalf of Butler County Commissioners, Liberty Twp., and the Liberty Community Authority. That funding pays for the center’s infrastructure such as streets, parking, utilities and sewer and water systems, and is part of a Master Development Agreement signed between the township, the county and developers in July 2013.
The rest of the $43 million in public dollars committed to the project includes a $12 million loan approved by Ohio Water Development Authority.
So far, Liberty Twp. trustees on Sept. 16 voted unanimously to authorize their $5 million share of the bonds, the first of three approvals the developer needs to borrow public funding. Butler County Commissioners and Liberty Community Authority, similar to a homeowners association, are due to consider their approvals at upcoming meetings.
“There’s problems bringing any retail development to fruition, but we’re pulling this off. Steiner has done this before and he knows how to overcome the obstacles,” Rogers said.
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