WEST CHESTER TWP. — Three developers are vying to be the first to bring upscale shopping to this Butler County township. But most retail experts agree only one mall will be built in the fast-growing suburb.

        That's created a high-stakes showdown among three firms competing to be the first to build a ritzy outdoor mall. One of the three proposals is slated for a zoning decision later this month.

        Armed with renderings and statistics showing the wealthy reach of southern Butler County, the developers are shopping for a combination of large and small retailers that can attract customers from Dayton to Cincinnati.

        The winning developer must convince retailers it has the best site and correct mix of fashion, restaurants and other shops to target suburbanites with plenty of disposable income.

        “There will be only one (built) in northern Cincinnati,” said David Cass, president of Columbus-based Continental Retail Development. “We are all trying to get the same tenants.”

        Shoppers see the need for better stores here.

        “A friend and I were just talking about heading up to Columbus,” said Lisa Wersel of Mason, lamenting the lack of trendy shopping opportunities in Greater Cincinnati. “We're taking our Christmas money up to Columbus.”

        The new Polaris mall, with its automated valet parking, has particular appeal to Ms. Wersel.

        If upscale and specialty retailers opened their doors in the West Chester area, “we'd be the first ones in line,” she said.

        The competing developments in West Chester are:

        • Continental's 103-acre site southeast of I-75 and Union Centre Boulevard. The Columbus developer envisions a 425,000-square-foot outdoor mall with three large anchor stores. Conti nental's extra land could include office, hotel and 400 apartments and townhomes.

        • Atlanta-based Cousins Properties has an option to purchase a 40-acre site west of I-75 off Union Centre near the Marriott Hotel. Cousins has built malls in Atlanta and California.

        • Midland Atlantic touts its Voice of America Centre at the northeast corner of Cox and Tylersville roads. This summer, Midland Atlantic said it signed a lease with Michigan-based Jacobson Stores Inc. to anchor the 500,000-square-foot mall. But the developer soon will announce changes, possibly converting to a grocery-anchored center instead of an upscale mall.

        West Chester added more than 15,000 new residents over the decade, a 38.3 percent growth surge. With new roads being paved over cornfields, the rapid growth of West Chester and nearby Liberty Township is virtually guaranteed.

        Many of these Butler County newcomers have money to spend. The average household in the region's Lakota School District earned $64,431 in 1999 — 58 percent more than Cincinnati households.

        “The household income, in a three-mile radius, is probably the best in the Greater Cincinnati area,” said Joseph A. Hinson, Southeastern Butler County Chamber of Commerce president.

        Yet the promise of new shopping has been elusive thus far for Butler and Warren counties.

        A proposed megamall in Monroe was iced last year after state transportation officials declined to approve a freeway interchange. Nordstrom bailed on its plans to anchor a Deerfield Township mall, killing the project. And Madison Marquette's outdoor mall never materialized at the same Union Centre site that Cousins is touting.

        Another wild card: The economic recession has tossed cold water on retail expansions nationwide.

        “Given the cycle we're in now, investment gets pushed back a little bit,” said Greg Malone of Duke Weeks Realty, which owns the proposed Deerfield Township mall site.

        Indeed, the slow economy has chilled most real estate development north of the Interstate 275 loop.

        Office brokers in West Chester and Mason are desperately seeking businesses to fill available space. Industrial space has been slow to rent. A building boom left a glut of apartments north of Cincinnati, forcing landlords to offer generous concessions to fill empty units.

        Yet the deteriorating economy hasn't deterred Continental. It recently plunked down $8 million for its site. It finished preparing the ground for construction and is now installing utilities to support the mall. New roads will be paved by March 2002.

        All that's left is the announcement of anchor tenants — the lifeblood of any mall.

        “We're in the final stages of negotiations with many large, national retailers,” Mr. Cass said. “We will announce department store anchors in the next 30 days.”

        That statement doesn't make officials from Atlanta-based Cousins blink. The real estate investment trust has landed retailers such as Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma and Abercrombie & Fitch at other outdoor malls.

        “I know there are other developers that have looked at other sites,” said Alex Chambers, Cousin's senior vice president of retail. “I think the retailers are really just looking for somebody to get the process rolling.”

        Mr. Chambers' plans call for a 206,000-square-foot mall that can be expanded if demand warrants. Cousins will seek zoning approval for the mall from West Chester officials this month.

        Only Midland Atlantic seems to be backing away from its ambitious plan. Midland's John Silverman said the economy has made completing the development difficult, but he's not ready to declare the outdoor mall's dead.

        “We had an agreement with Jacobson's, Biggs and Galyan's,” Mr. Silverman said. “There have been a lot of changes in the market since that time.”

        Officials from high-end retailer Jacobson's didn't return phone calls Friday. In mid-October, the retailer laid off 5 percent of its workforce to offset declining sales.

        Galyan's, a sporting goods retailer based in Plainfield, Ind., is interested in opening a store in Cincinnati but has not made any firm decisions, a spokesman said.

        Enquirer contributor Jenny Callison aided in this report.

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