2025 Top 10 Retail Center Experiences: No. 8 Liberty Center
As the only retail-anchored mixed-use development between Cincinnati and Dayton, Liberty Center has become the social playground of the region.
“A lot of the new residents in the region are young couples who moved in from Cincinnati and Dayton and are starting families for the first time,” said the center’s general manager John Taylor. “They’re sophisticated people used to top retail brands and restaurants.”
In the past few years, Liberty Center has added Lululemon, Ford’s Garage, Warby Parker and Sephora. Its food-and-beverage roster is made up of 13 market-exclusive brands that include Son of a Butcher Steakhouse, Agave & Rye and Cowboy Sally’s.
The 878,000-sq.-ft. center features walkable streets, greenspaces, splash pads and art installations. It stages more in excess of 100 events a year.
Last year, Liberty Center was awarded $7.6 million in Ohio state tax credits to support to add 264 luxury apartments. Also in its development plans is a 145-key hotel. Its sales per square foot have risen by 35% post-pandemic and it has grown its trade area by 14%, attracting new affluent households and “power elite” segments from surrounding communities.
“Our customers are used to having access to the kind of restaurants and stores they enjoyed in big cities and, at Liberty Center, we’re giving them those things,” said Mindy Rohr, senior regional director of national marketing for Centennial, which operates the property.
“Liberty Center has taken a little bit of time to find itself, and when I first got here we heard a lot of opinions on the center,” said Taylor. “But we knew we were all there to make Liberty Center work. We worked hard with tenants old and new to make it an important feature of this growing community.”
