Officials revealed for the first time the Costco’s opening is scheduled for November 2022.
Surrounding the 160,529 square-foot Costco will be restaurants, 402 upscale apartments, other retail businesses, medical and other professional offices and a hotel at the southern border of Liberty Twp. across Liberty Way from the Voice of America Metro Park in West Chester Twp.
“It will be a big benefit to the community,” said Dan Wheeler, development director for Target Management, one of the companies working on the project, which is the second largest in Liberty Twp. history after the 2015 opening of the $350 million Liberty Center, a quarter of a mile away, across I-75.
Joe Hinson, president and CEO of the West Chester/Liberty Chamber Alliance oversaw the ceremony and said Freedom Pointe – which will include a connector road from SR 129 and expansion of Cox Road north — “will be the gateway north for Liberty Twp.”
“We are really excited about this. It’s an opportunity to continue to build momentum for the growth and development that will be on I-75 to the east, all the way up to a new Millikin Road interchange here within the next five years or so,” Hinson said.
“We have a really great opportunity in front of us here,” he said as heavy earth movers worked in the distance to start leveling the 88 acres of former farmland.
Developers estimate approximately 578 construction jobs will come with Freedom Pointe’s construction with a projected economic impact of $223 million.
Liberty Twp. Trustee Steve Schramm said all the attention on Costco and the project’s surrounding size and large acreage should not overshadow the development’s potential to attract numerous smaller businesses to the 88-acre project.
“It finally gives us smaller developments and smaller properties to offer to smaller businesses,” said Schramm. “We have had many large tracts (of land) that made all kinds of sense for big developments but this is finally going to open us up to any and all business sizes.”
And the positive economic impact will extend throughout Butler County, said County Commissioner Don Dixon.
“We’re glad to be part of this,” said Dixon. “And we look forward to many more of these structures going up.”
Wheeler said the influx of new businesses and jobs will also help tilt Liberty Twp.’s tax base away from being a largely bedroom community, mostly depended on residential tax revenue to maintain essential services for the fast-growing township.
“This project has brought about the construction of Veterans Boulevard, which is a necessary roadway to complete (east bound) SR 129. But some of the biggest benefits are the tax base, property tax base and the sales tax and earnings tax that will be generated for both Butler County and Liberty Twp.,” he said.
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