Bass Pro store will be built, EDC says

HARLINGEN — Not every place expecting Bass Pro Shops to come to town has gotten its new store. A handful of cities around the country that announced as many as six years ago that the retailer would open a unit there have yet to see ground broken.

Bass Pro Shops already has some 54 locations open nationwide, and another two in Canada, according to its Web site.

Harlingen’s Bass Pro Shops announcement was made in early May. The Economic Development Corporation expects the retailer will be open for business here late next year.
But five other cities with similar plans have yet to see their stores come to fruition. Bass Pro Shops spokesman Larry L. Whiteley said no construction is currently under way at any proposed Bass Pro Shops site in the United States.

Those sites, excluding Harlingen, are Bakersfield, Calif., Decatur, Ala., Peoria, Ill., Buffalo, N.Y., and Augusta, Ga. Those cities made their development announcements in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2004 and 2008, respectively.

Whiteley said those developers put the brakes on their Bass Pro Shops plans shortly after the economy began to decline in 2008. While some city leaders in those locations have blamed the recession, others have cited environmental factors as reasons for their respective progress delays.

Whiteley did not provide the number of Bass Pro Shops stores that have opened between 2004 and 2007.

Bill Martin, chief executive officer of the Harlingen EDC, said the economy should not affect Bass Pro development here.

“We’re still putting together a lot of the details regarding the project. But at this time we don’t see any roadblocks to making the project happen,” he said.

Whiteley said there is no standard time-frame for when a contract must be signed after development plans are announced. He said it depends on how quickly developers can move forward.

In Harlingen, the EDC expects to issue between $26 and $28 million in bonds to make the upfront payment for Bass Pro Shops’ construction. The EDC money used to pay the bonds will be replenished by sales taxes generated at Bass Pro Shops.

Incentive packages and development processes negotiated with Bass Pro by Decatur, Ala., and Augusta, Ga., most closely resemble those offered to the retailer to come to Harlingen.
None of the cities, including Harlingen, have signed formal contracts with Bass Pro Shops to begin construction. But Buffalo, Decatur and Augusta all signed letters of intent.

In Decatur, which made its Bass Pro Shops development announcement in March 2008, chamber of commerce business development Vice President Jim Page said the city was prepared to issue bonds until the economy “tanked.”

“… The bond market had kind of gone in the toilet … so our (project) is stalled and it’s not gone anywhere,” Page said. “It’s still on the books. We still hope it comes to fruition but … we’re still kind of in a holding pattern.”

Page said there is no schedule for Bass Pro Shops development in Decatur to resume.
Meanwhile in Augusta, Development Authority Executive Director Walter Sprouse said it was Bass Pro Shops that slowed development plans after the economic downturn.

“That was announced just prior to everything going south with the national economy,” Sprouse said. “Bass Pro has told us, ‘Listen, we’re still going to build it … we’re just going to hold off on building it a little while until the economy improves.’”

“We’d love for them to open it tomorrow, but you have to look at the economy,” Sprouse said.

But Martin said Harlingen’s economy is somewhat shielded, and that makes Harlingen an economically sound development location.

“I think the economy of our region is very unique and if you look at some of the national rankings our area is showing some of the strongest rebound in the entire nation,” he said. “… plus we’ve got that huge benefit of being next door to Mexico and taking advantage of those potential shoppers.”

In Bakersfield, which announced Bass Pro Shops plans in 2007, the project was not financed by the city but by a private developer, who ran into problems with a requirement for construction of a new highway interchange, which required approval by the state of California.

David Lyman of the Bakersfield Economic & Community Development department said the economy also slowed development of the shopping center that Bass Pro Shops would have anchored. He said aspects of environmental review in the area would likely need to be reevaluated before any construction could begin.

Officials from Peoria, which also announced plans for a Bass Pro Shops location in May, did not return phone calls for a comment.

In Buffalo, N.Y., which announced Bass Pro Shops’ intent to build a store there in 2004, city spokesman Peter Cutler said environmental factors, not the economy, played a substantial role in construction delay.

“The location where it will ultimately be constructed was our former memorial auditorium … which had been closed around 1996 when they constructed a new arena,” he said. “They had to go into preparing that location, involving a building that was built back in the ’30s. It was all sorts of environmental remediation issues.”

Cutler said the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, a state-sanctioned entity working with Bass Pro Shops, expects to have a signed contract within the next three months.
Martin said Bass Pro Shops development should continue as planned here despite trends in other markets.

“We’re very confident in this market,” he said. “Obviously so is Bass Pro Shops because they’ve decided to go forward with this project.”