Liberty Center lands first office tenant

Less than two weeks before the project's grand opening celebration, Liberty Center has secured its first office tenant.

Northwestern Mutual plans on moving from its West Chester Township location in February and occupying about 7,700 square feet of office space at Liberty Center, said Jeff Gayonski, managing director of Northwestern Mutual's West Chester office.

Gaynoski's office is supervised by Shawn Kelley, who serves as managing partner of Northwestern Mutual's Kelley Financial Group, which oversees activities in Southwest Ohio.

"We've been looking for space for several years now," Gaynoski said. "Moving to Liberty Center really gives us the accessibility of clients and visibility of clients and others in the community.

"We did a market study of the northern Cincinnati market, less than 16 percent of population has a written financial plan," he said. "The ones that do, only half to 60 percent, feel good about it. (Moving) really puts us in a position of strength of being able to help and impact the community."

The office, which is located about a mile west of Liberty Center, move involves about 18 workers and a 10-year lease was signed, Gaynoski said. The West Chester office opened about eight years ago.

Columbus-based Steiner & Associates is lead developer for the 65-acre Liberty Township site along Interstate 75 between Liberty Way and Ohio 129. But the Daimler Group, also in Columbus, handled the office development.

The building for Northwestern Mutual and other office tenants is 100,000 square feet, but 25,000 square feet of it is street-level retail space, said Todd Pease, a vice president at Jones Lang LaSalle who is helping secure tenants for the office space. Pease with working with JLL's Rusty Myers to identify tenants.

The building was developed without a committed tenant. As Liberty Center has come out the ground, Pease said there's now "a ton of activity" around the new office space. The number of tours being hosted is increasing and he said more people want to get in the building and see how the office space ties into the whole project.

In addition to office space, the $350 million Liberty Center project features stores, restaurants, entertainment destinations, a hotel, and apartments. The project's grand opening is planned for Oct. 22.

Liberty Center: Grand opening won’t mean all open

"We're in discussions with a lot of people," Pease said. "We're getting close to signing our second lease any day now."

The 65-acre site has the ability to add more office space. Now, efforts are being focused on finding tenants for existing spaces.