The Sharonville-based residential developer submitted a preliminary plan to the township Tuesday for a 75,143-square-foot store at 7536 Liberty Way on behalf of Cabela's, a direct marketer and specialty retailer of hunting, fishing, camping, shooting and related outdoor recreation merchandise.
Great Traditions has developed more than 4,000 acres of land, created 35 communities and more than 5,000 home sites in Cincinnati and Dayton, but Humes said the award-winning company is no stranger to commercial development. Its lifestyle-oriented master planned communities, including Wetherington Golf & Country Club, feature commercial components, he said.
The company also has developed property next to Kings Auto Mall off Fields Ertel Road for Costco and other businesses, as well as several other projects with commercial aspects.
“While we’re known for our residential, a lot of our projects have had some portion of commercial,” Humes said.
Great Traditions owns nearly 50 acres near I-75, part of it to the west along Liberty Way, including the site proposed for Cabela’s, and part of it to the east along Cox Road.
Developing the Liberty Way property as commercial was always part of Great Traditions’ plan, Humes said. The company purchased the site early last decade and had it rezoned in 2004 to allow for construction of retail strip centers, office buildings, restaurants or a health institution.
Under construction just across the road from the proposed Cabela’s site, Steiner + Associates’ mega-retail project Liberty Center “is a huge catalyst for the area.”
“I think (Steiner + Associates) is creating a great project that will be a real game changer for that entire area,” Humes said. “I think that has a wonderful spillover effect to the other areas. Our goal is to make sure that our project very appropriately complements their project.”
Cabela’s is expected to create approximately 170 full-time and part-time jobs. Locations recently announced for Alabama, New York, Oklahoma and Indiana range between 80,000 and 90,000 square feet and are expected to employ between 170 to 180 full-time and part-time workers by the time they open in 2015 and 2016, according to the company.
Cabela’s is only one facet of the overall plan for Great Traditions’ property plans.
“Our plan is to create a very high quality mix of retail and restaurant users, potentially some office and potentially some unique uses that would fit into the area and be very complementary to what is happening in that area,” Humes said.
There’s still more to be done before the project can be finalized. The revised plan for the site submitted by Great Traditions on Tuesday will go before the West Chester Zoning Commission at its July 21 meeting, according to Barb Wilson, the township’s spokeswoman.
The zoning process will focus on various aspects of each development parcel on the site, but the matter won’t go before township trustees, as zoning for the site already is appropriate for listed uses within the planned unit development, Wilson said.
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