WEST CHESTER TWP. — The developers who recently sued the township to overturn a denial to build a movie theater inside a shopping center filed to rezone their land Tuesday.

        If approved, the rezoning for the movie theater would make the suit — pending in Butler County Common Pleas Court — unnecessary and allow the project to move forward.

        Plans show West Chester Market Square, on the northwest corner of Interstate 75 and Cincinnati-Dayton Road, would have 575,000 square feet of retail space — including the 65,000-square-foot movie theater — and 80,000 square feet of office space.

        “Almost every area, when you are trying to upgrade a development, that usually is welcomed with open arms,” said Dan Neyer, president of Neyer Properties. “Usually you have opposition with residents. Here, we don't. Our only opposition has really been the competition and the township officials.”

        Neyer has teamed with the developers of Newport on the Levee, Steiner & Associates of Columbus, on the project. It would include a sporting goods retailer, a Showcase Cinemas movie theater, restaurants such as a Jeff Ruby steakhouse, offices and perhaps housing.

        But the West Chester Township Board of Zoning Appeals denied Neyer's request for a conditional-use permit to build the movie theater.

        Specifically, township officials said Steiner and Neyer didn't present enough details about their development. There also were traffic concerns.

        Last month, Neyer sued the township to overturn the board's decision, but that could be tied up in court for a long time, Mr. Neyer said Tuesday.

        Without the movie theater, Steiner officials have said they won't be able to build the development. While they still are interested in building in West Chester, they are now looking elsewhere to build a similar project north of Cincinnati, Mr. Neyer said.

        West Chester officials had yet to review the rezoning application late Tuesday but have stood behind the Board of Zoning Appeals' decision.

        Meanwhile, county officials fear Warren County — with a project in Deerfield Township on Mason-Montgomery Road — has taken the lead in the area's mall wars.

        Another mall is proposed at or near Paramount's Kings Island, Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox said Tuesday, though he did not have details.

        The Warren County mall developments have Butler County officials worried that their county will lose out and shoppers will spend their money elsewhere.

        Besides West Chester Market Square, a similar development off I-75 at Union Centre Boulevard — The Streets of West Chester — plans to have a movie theater and expects to receive its building permits from the county this week, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday.

        The theater chain will be announced next week, said Ruth Milligan of Continental Retail Development.

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