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Two more restaurants, both new to the Cincinnati market, were named Wednesday for Liberty Center, the $350 million mixed-use complex under construction now in Butler County.
Northstar Café and Rodizio Grill join the Liberty Center restaurant lineup that already includes previously announced tenants Flip Side, Rusty Bucket Restaurant and Tavern, Brio Tuscan Grill, Cheesecake Factory, Kona Grill and Pie & Pints, developer Steiner + Associates announced.
Northstar Café, founded in 2004 with three Columbus-area locations, will occupy 6,838-square-feet at Liberty Center. The café features a healthful emphasis on organic ingredients and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Northstar is recognized annually for being “Best of Columbus” for its weekend brunch, according to Wednesday’s announcement.
Also, Rodizio Grill, The Brazilian Steakhouse, will occupy 7,900-square-feet. Rodizio Grill is the first authentic Brazilian steakhouse restaurant or churrascaria in the United States, and was established in 1995 by Ivan Utrera, a native Brazilian born in São Paulo.
More tenant announcements for retailers, restaurants and offices are to come.
“All modern retailers are represented and we are the most proud of, frankly, our restaurant mix. I think we have a really good food mix,” Yaromir Steiner, founder and chief executive officer of Columbus-based Steiner + Associates, told this reporter Tuesday before a speech in Cincinnati.
Currently, Steiner + Associates, along with partners, is building the Liberty Center retail and office complex in Liberty Twp., at the intersection of Ohio 129, Liberty Way and Interstate 75. The center is scheduled to open in October 2015.
Three anchor tenants — Dillard’s department store, dinner-and-movie theater CineBistro and Dick’s Sporting Goods — have been announced for Liberty Center along with AC Hotels by Marriott and The Funny Bone Comedy Club and Restaurant.
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.
At a commercial real estate developers event Tuesday, Yaromir Steiner said Liberty Center was designed in response to changing times and will cater to the wants of millennials.
A rooftop garden, public spaces “on steroids,” “experiential restaurants” and other features of Liberty Center are also an effort to create a compelling environment to lure customers and retailers alike, Steiner described.
“I think that the consumer in general, we are more tied to technology,” said Jesse Tron, spokesman for International Council of Shopping Centers. “Outfitting centers to recognize the fact that people have these really incredibly powerful devices in their hand is incredibly important.”
For example, shopping centers nationally are installing WiFi at their properties, and using mobile applications and technology to provide customer service and alert customers to sales, Tron said. Retailers are taking a more multi-channel approaches, tying products listed on websites to in-store inventory, and sending discount offers and even home delivery services to customers as they shop at the mall, he said.
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