Bass Pro Shop Lands in Baldwin

Agreement is reached to build popular outdoor store in

Spanish Fort complex

Friday, March 05, 2004

By KATHY JUMPER

Real Estate Editor

Bass Pro Shops, whose popular outdoor stores are an increasingly hot commodity for retail developers, said Thursday that it plans to build a store on a 200-acre development at Interstate 10 and U.S. 90 in Spanish Fort.

Developers in Mobile had been trying to land one of the Bass stores in McGowin Park at Hank Aaron Stadium off U.S. 90 and I-10.

But Bass Pro reached an agreement with Cypress Equities to serve as the major anchor for The Market at Spanish Fort, a retail, restaurant and hotel complex to be built at the northeast corner of that intersection, according to Scott Harrington, managing partner at Cypress' Atlanta office.

Cypress is the retail development and acquisition affiliate of Staubach Retail. Both companies, which are part of former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach's real estate businesses, have headquarters in Dallas.

The size of the Bass store has not been announced, but it most likely will be as large as the average Bass Pro store -- 140,000 square feet, according to Larry Whiteley of Bass Pro Shops, headquartered in Springfield, Mo.

Expected to employ 300 workers:

The store is scheduled to open in spring 2006, and is expected to employ 300 full- and part-time workers, the store spokesman and developers said.

"We've reached an agreement," Whiteley said Thursday. "The papers haven't been signed, and we will come out with a release later and talk more about the store and how big it will be."

Typically, one of the stores receives 2 million to 3 million visitors a year, Whiteley said.

"The other businesses in the area will be glad we're coming. They won't believe what it does for traffic, and they will benefit very much from it, as will the city and state taxes.

The company's 300,000-square-foot store in Springfield, Mo., is the No. 1 tourist attraction in the state of Missouri, Whiteley said.

The Spanish Fort development will include 500,000 square feet of retail space, restaurants and hotels. The nearest competition would be the 550,000-square-foot Jubilee Square shopping center off U.S. 90 in Daphne.

Cypress is also looking at automotive dealerships to locate off I-10. The company will soon begin its final phase of design and permitting for the project, and site development is expected to begin in late 2004, according to Harrington.

He declined to discuss the financing of the project but said more details will be released later this month.

It's no secret that Bass seeks incentives from developers when it comes to deciding where to locate a store, according to local commercial developers. Will Spanish Fort officials be asked to participate by providing infrastructure or tax breaks?

"The Bass Pro Shops transaction is a private transaction between Cypress and Bass," Harrington said. "It has been made very clear to us that the city of Spanish Fort has no money or any appetite for liability in the project. There is no cash available. We are currently making arrangements to meet with city officials and the Planning Commission to commence our rezoning and discuss the project as a whole.

"We've got a plan, and I'd rather share it with them," Harrington said, referring to the Spanish Fort Council.

Spanish Fort Mayor Greg Kuhlmann and council members are attending a League of Municipalities meeting in Washington and were not available for comment.

Mary Brabner, chairman of the Spanish Fort Planning Commission, said the site is "a perfect location," for a Bass store. "I think it's going to be great, and I know they get very active in the community."

The news that Bass Pro chose an Eastern Shore site was met with disappointment by developers in Mobile.

"If it is, in fact, a done deal, I'm disappointed that we couldn't get it into the city of Mobile," said B.T. Roberts of Roberts Brothers, who is one of the people working to develop the 100 acres around Hank Aaron Stadium. He and his colleagues had been working for almost two years to get Bass Pro to locate there.

"At the same time, I'm glad to see they are locating in the Mobile and Baldwin county area," Roberts said. "It's a tremendous marketing company that can bring some advantages to the whole Mobile and Baldwin area. But it would've been a tremendous pull for the city (of Mobile) and a real shot in the arm to their tax base."

Disappointment in Mobile:

"I'm very disappointed to hear that news, assuming it's true," said Mobile Councilman Ben Brooks, whose District 4 includes Hank Aaron Stadium.

"This is additional evidence that we've got to go after our sales tax rate in the city of Mobile," Brooks said. "I don't think that sales tax is the only factor that played a part in this, but in business considerations, it's one of the factors."

Mobile's local sales tax rate is 4 percent, while Spanish Fort's is 1.5 percent.

"When we're competing for businesses like this, we're competing on an unlevel playing field," Brooks said.

Bass Pro officials would not discuss the specifics of their choice of Spanish Fort rather than Mobile.

"We look at the opportunities in the area, the number of fishing and hunting licenses, and location, location, location," Whiteley said.