Saturday, January 23, 1999
Retail sprouts at Tylersville and I-75
BY AMY HIGGINS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
UNION TOWNSHIP — If you're an office dweller looking to hang your shingle at Tylersville Road and I-75, good luck.
Retail and restaurants are becoming the new cash crop in these former farm fields, unlike the ones on Union Centre Boulevard and in Mason that are sprouting office complexes.
In the last decade, the 1.5-mile stretch from Wetherington to the Warren County line underwent a transformation from a quiet agricultural community to a buzzing, centrally located hub carrying 50,000 cars a day.
Almost 1 million square feet of retail have been built there, compared to less than 100,000 square feet of office space tucked away on side streets, Tylers Place Boulevard and Kingsgate Way.
Area developers and commercial real estate agents say the only thing preventing offices from being built on Tylersville Road is money: It's just too expensive.
“Some areas just develop as retail, and retail brings more retail,” said Tom McGill, commercial agent at Comey & Shepherd Realtors' office in Liberty Township.
And retail — fostered by surrounding cul-de-sac suburbia — commands higher prices.
Farmland on Tylersville Road was recently sold to Home Depot for almost $310,000 an acre. A half-acre in front of Meijer reportedly is listed at $450,000.
“Offices have a hard time paying that kind of money,” said Chris Wunnenberg, development director of Schumacher Dugan Construction Inc.
He said office developers rarely pay more than $200,000 an acre.
“And that's generally why high-visibility, high-cost sites end up being retail,” Mr. Wunnenberg said.
West Chester-based Schumacher Dugan is the lead developer on the office complex projects at Union Centre Boulevard's interchange with I-75, two exits south of the Tylersville interchange.
Mr. Wunnenberg said one of the reasons offices are attracted to that site, which has similar visibility and accessibility as Tylersville, is the traffic pattern.
Office dwellers don't want to compete with the traffic-heavy “big box” stores, such as the Wal-Mart, Meijer and Home Depot.
“Service retail is certainly very compatible with office use, but big boxes are not something offices want to see,” Mr. Wunnenberg said. “There's a tremendous amount of traffic generated.”
And the retail momentum is only just beginning to grow. A developer is planning on turning 45 acres formerly used as the township's McGinnis Park into a retail strip. And township leaders anticipate 75 acres of the former Voice of America radio relay site that fronts Tylersville to be sold to a retail developer.
Despite the retail dominance, some brave developers have tried to develop suitable office space on the Tylersville corridor.
Al Neyer Inc., a Fairfax-based developer and contractor, has built two 10,000-square-foot office buildings on Tylers Place Boulevard.
Director of marketing John E. Neyer said those projects have worked out well, but companies are not clamoring for more office space in the immediate neighborhood and his company does not have any plans for Tylersville office projects.
“It's difficult to justify the multimillion-dollar investment without some pre-leasing,” Mr. Neyer said.
Mr. Neyer does have two projects on Tylersville Road under way: a 263-acre commerce park at the road's western terminus in Hamilton, and a 60-acre development near I-71.
“It's not that we don't like the area, but as far as offices, there are hotter market areas,” Mr. Neyer said. “There are hotter markets where our immediate efforts are better focused. We're on Tylersville, just 12 miles to the east.”
Scott Yards, commercial specialist at West Shell Commercial-Encore International, said one of those hot areas is developing around Union Centre Boulevard. Businesses that want to be located centrally between Dayton and Cincinnati, Hamilton and Mason, are choosing the 1,000-acre site because land is simply more available and affordable.
Tom Warndorf, vice president for retail at CB Richard Ellis, said the offices at Union Centre will actually continue to drive the retail nature of Tylersville.
“Tylersville should evolve as the area's premier day-to-day shopping area,” Mr. Warndorf said, adding Tri-County will continue to be the primary destination-shopping center.
The offices that are in the Tylersville area are day-to-day service oriented, such as medical offices, accounting firms or real estate agencies, said Matt Bockhorst, president of the Union Township Community Improvement Corp.
His office recruits businesses to the area, but is concentrating his efforts on Union Centre Boulevard. His promotion theme: cost savings.
As for Tylersville, “It's just a retail corridor,” he said. “There's nothing magical or mystical about it.”
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