Levis Commons in Perrysburg, whose growth was strangled by the Great Recession, is about to be jump-started by new, $100 million developments that include a 105-suite hotel, 67,000 square feet of stores, new tenants for an existing 67,000 retail building, and construction of 424 apartments.

Gateway Hospitality Group broke ground Wednesday on a four-story Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel to be built immediately east of the existing Hilton Garden Inn. The hotels are toward the back of Levis Commons, which is a 400-acre mixed-use development off of State Rt. 25 near the I-475/​U.S. 23 interchange.

When everything is completed in 2018, “there will be 500 new people walking around Levis Commons on a daily basis, in addition to the suites that will be coming here with the hotel,” said Stephanie Kuhlman, a senior development, sales, and leasing agent with NAI Harmon Group, the Toledo company owned by local developer Ed Harmon.

When development efforts are finished, there will be about 1,000 jobs created for Levis Commons.

Gateway Hospitality, of Twinsburg, Ohio, is developing the hotel, which it hopes to have ready by September.

At the groundbreaking that featured U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green) and other dignitaries, several officials, including Perrysburg Mayor Mike Olmstead, pressed plaques with their names on them into blocks of cement that will be used to construct an outdoor patio for the hotel.

The Harmon Group is the developer of the retail component, the key segment that draws visitors to Levis Commons on a regular basis. Plans call for the Harmon Group to constructed a 27,000-square-foot section of shops to be followed later by a 40,000-square-foot section that will be built after the first section is filled. The first section will be on vacant land just east of the new hotel, and the second retail center will be across the street.

The Harmon Group also talked about plans for the 67,000-square-foot Orleans Building facing the Hilton Garden Inn. Harmon bought the building this week. The building had been only 60 percent filled for six years because of back taxes and bond payments owed on it after the developer of Levis Commons, Larry Dillin, defaulted on construction loans.

Ms. Kuhlman said Mr. Harmon’s company already has commitments from the five existing tenants to remain in the building, and its initial marketing efforts has led to tentative commitments from two new tenants.

Since it opened in October, 2004, Levis Commons was envisioned to be a retail, office, and residential complex.

Dallas Paul, Harmon Group business director, said the projects are in line with “the master plan that Larry Dillin visualized way back in 2000. That’s been the footprint for Levis ever since it was conceived.”

Levis Commons already has retail, offices, and housing. Construction will start in March on the new 27,000 square feet of retail, which should be opened by next fall. It will have a second story of 15,000 square feet of office space.

“We’ve already been approached by several national and regional tenants that have been waiting to get into Levis Commons. We haven’t been able to do anything because development stopped,” Ms. Kuhlman said.

The second phase of retail, which will be built after the first phase is filled, will be three stories high, also along Levis Commons Boulevard on vacant land east of the Orleans Building. The first story is to be filled with retail and the top two stories with 130 apartment units.

Mr. Paul said Harmon will develop the retail, but the company is in talks with an apartment developer about building the dwellings.

“It will be a joint-venture,” Mr. Paul said. “ We’ve looked at it and there’s a market for [apartments]. The market is strong in Perrysburg.”

Lastly, the Harmon Group two months ago sold 11 acres of land behind the Orleans Building to the Fortus Group, of Indianapolis, which is building a 294-unit market-rate apartment complex called the Mosaic at Levis Commons.

The first apartment dwellers are expected to move in by July.

Mr. Paul said developers are moving forward because they believe there is a pent-up demand at Levis for more hotel space, retail, and living space.

“I think it’s just awesome,” he said. “I’m just very excited about it.”

Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.

First Published October 20, 2016, 4:00 a.m.