By John Kiesewetter
Enquirer staff writer

Abby Frank, 3, of Springboro enjoys her Cold Stone Creamery ice cream Wednesday at the Streets of West Chester. Photos by JEFF SWINGER/The Enquirer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Even with customers lined up outside the door of his Cold Stone Creamery ice cream shop, owner Phil Leisure knows that many Greater Cincinnati residents haven't discovered the Streets of West Chester mall.

"We know we're getting plenty of people from West Chester, but there are people from other areas that don't know we're here," says Leisure of the lifestyle shopping center east of Interstate 75 at Union Centre Boulevard. It is one of four booming retail centers in Butler County's largest and wealthiest township.

So this weekend, his Cold Stone employees will be selling gourmet ice cream at the second annual Union Centre Boulevard Bash.

Thousands are expected for the Bash's games, amusement rides, fireworks (10:45 p.m. today) and free concerts along Union Centre Boulevard.

Alternative rockers Fuel, and oldies groups the Rascals and Turtles, will perform in what was a cornfield 10 years ago in the Mill Creek valley north of Interstate 275 and west of I-75, in southeastern Butler County.

The opening of the I-75 interchange at Union Centre Boulevard seven years ago has driven the township's transformation. It will soon be the most populous community north of Cincinnati, eclipsing Colerain Township and Hamilton.

IF YOU GO

• What: Second Annual Union Centre Boulevard Bash. • When: 5 p.m.-midnight today; noon-midnight Saturday; noon-10 p.m. Sunday. • Where: Union Centre Boulevard west of Interstate 75, in West Chester Township. • Fireworks: 10:45 p.m. Today. • Today's music: FunkyTown, 5:30 p.m.; Rusty Griswolds, 8:30 p.m. • Saturday's music: Danny Frazier & the Lunatic Cowboys, 1 p.m.; Red Idle, 3:30 p.m.; Off The Hook, 6 p.m.; Fuel, 8:30 p.m. • Sunday's music: WGRR-FM's Oldiesfest featuring Leroy Ellington & the E-Funk Band, 1 p.m.; The Return, a Beatles tribute band, 4 p.m.; The Turtles, 5:15 p.m.; Felix Cavaliere's Rascals, 6:45 p.m.

As Greater Cincinnati pushes north, and Dayton grows to the south, township leaders say West Chester is perfectly positioned to be the economic center of a metropolitan area.

"We see ourselves as the hub for the growth of the Cincinnati-Dayton 'super region,' from the Northern Kentucky-Greater Cincinnati International Airport to the Dayton airport," says Joseph Hinson, president and CEO of the West Chester Chamber Alliance, the chamber of commerce for West Chester and Liberty townships.

In the past year, West Chester Township has blossomed into one of Greater Cincinnati's hottest new shopping, dining and entertainment destinations with the opening of the Rave 18 Motion Pictures theaters and the Streets of West Chester, and, two exits north on I-75, the Voice of America Centre at Cox and Tylersville roads.

Within the next year, the first phase of the West Chester Towne Centre retail development will open in the Union Centre Boulevard central business district near the Bash site; a Wal-Mart Supercenter will open on Cincinnati-Dayton Road at I-75; and construction will begin on doubling the Streets of West Chester complex, and on 332 luxury brownstones and flats across the creek at the Villages at the Streets of West Chester.

"It's incredibly unusual to have all this growth going on in one township," says Brian Elliff, township planning and zoning director.

Toni Sander, a 12-year resident, says it's keeping her close to home. No longer does she drive to Hamilton County for a movie and a meal.

"I love the Rave. It's so close and so comfortable. It's like sitting in a sofa at home," says Sander, owner of The Wine List shop on Tyler's Place Boulevard near Tylersville Road.

At least once a week, Sander and her husband dine at P.F. Changs China Bistro, Mitchell's Fish Market or Bravo Italiano on the Streets. They also have new choices a mile east of her wine shop - Ruby Tuesday, TGI Friday's, Longhorn Steakhouse, Panera Bread and McAlister's Deli - near the Voice of America Centre.

Of the 43 new food service businesses to open in Butler County townships and villages in the last 12 months, more than half (24) were in West Chester Township. A dozen more have been approved, waiting to be built, says Lori Payne of the Butler County Health Department.

Coming soon are First Watch, Busken Bakery and Pusser's Caribbean Restaurant to Union Centre; an Original Pancake House, Smoky Bones BBQ & Grill and Panera Bread to the Streets of West Chester; and Johnny Carino's Italian Restaurant and Zyng Asian Grill to Cox Road.

"The joke in West Chester is that you were always 20 minutes away from somewhere to shop, to eat or to go to a movie," Leisure says.

Or go to the hospital.

Not any more.

In September, a limited-stay, eight-bed University Pointe Surgical Hospital opens on Cox Road. Three more medical office buildings will open in the growing health-care district in the next year, says Todd Duplain of the Miller-Valentine Group. Ten acres also have been reserved at University Pointe for a community hospital.

Other amenities were added this year to Union Centre - Volvo of Cincinnati, the township's first new-car dealer, and the University of Phoenix in the Centre Pointe office towers. By fall, Indiana Wesleyan University will move into its two-story, 17-classroom building along I-75 in Union Centre.

And in November, voters will decide if township trustees may build a 171,515-square-foot community and recreation center with outdoor and indoor pools on Union Centre Boulevard at West Chester Road.

Money from Union Centre development - increased taxes paid on higher property values since the I-75 interchange opened in 1997 - would cover the $33 million construction and property acquisition costs, trustees said.

The community center - and the highway interchange - were goals of the township's 20-year "vision" plan compiled by residents and approved by trustees in 1993.

Charles Chappell, an original investor in the West Chester 75 development group which pushed for the interchange, says reality has exceeded expectations.

"We never dreamed this would happen. We were realists," says the retired Procter & Gamble scientist-engineer. "We figured the worst that could happen would be that it was developed for industrial use."

The new interchange first attracted Procter & Gamble, and companies needing warehouse space. They liked the township's proximity to interstate highways - three I-75 exits, and access to three I-275 interchanges - and a growing potential work force, says Hinson, the chamber president.

At 55,515, the township's population is closing in on Hamilton (60,763), the county seat, and Colerain Township (58,844), Hamilton County's largest suburb. Township officials expect the population to peak between 70,000 and 80,000.

Having the road infrastructure in place at Union Centre, Tylersville Road and Cox Road has allowed for the commercial growth in the last year, Hinson says.

"We haven't reached our full potential yet," Hinson says. "The next five years will be unlike anything seen in Southwestern Ohio."

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com