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Township officials herald reopening of Liberty Metroplex
By Sarah Lehr
LIBERTY
Once a destination for weddings, bar miztvahs and corporate conventions, the Liberty Metroplex at Motor Inn Drive near Belmont Avenue has sat vacant for years.
Township officials are hopeful, however, that a developer’s plans will reinvigorate the once-bustling location.
A ribbon-cutting Wednesday will mark the grand opening of the Liberty Metroplex Expo Center, which will serve jointly as a convention center and storage facility.
Kutlick Realty LLC of Boardman completed the sale of the former hotel, restaurant and convention center for $850,000 to BLI of MetroPlex LTD, a Universal Development company, in 2015.
Universal Development, located at Motor Inn Drive, has converted the former hotel into 450 storage units of varying sizes.
The remainder of the building will serve as a backdrop for concerts, banquets, conventions and trade shows.
The building exceeds 300,000 square feet and sits on more than 100 acres.
“It’s a big facility, and having something that large uninhabited is not a good thing,” township Trustee Jodi Stoyak said.
Township officials said they believed the newly renovated facility would create a positive “domino effect” by attracting visitors and other businesses to the area.
“After the last five years of nothing – nothing but decline – it’s so positive,” township Administrator Pat Ungaro said. “Even though we have so many challenges ahead, I have no doubt that when it’s all done it’s going to be successful. These are Liberty developers putting their money and creativity into Liberty.”
Belmont Avenue, Ungaro said, is a particularly vital thoroughfare for the township.
“The way Belmont goes, Liberty goes,” he said.