Plans for a Bass Pro Shops store in a Decatur, Ala.-based mixed-use development once considered dead in the water have resurfaced.
Bass Pro has signed on as anchor tenant with plans to build a 100,000-square-foot Sportsman's Center in the 540-acre Sweetwater tourist and shopping destination under development in north-central Alabama. The multibillion-dollar Sweetwater project had been considered "dead in its present incarnation" as recently as October, according to an
AL.com report.
However, officials believe the Bass Pro store would be a draw for retailers, restaurants and other tenants, and provide construction and other jobs.
"National retailers and restaurants follow Bass Pro Shops and that will mean good jobs and enhanced tax revenues for Decatur," said Gary Glover of Sweetwater developer Genesis USA Development LLC in a news release, noting the group sought out Bass Pro as an anchor tenant.
The Bass Pro store, which is estimated in value up to $35 million, would be the Springfield-based company's fourth in Alabama, according to AL.com. Decatur City Council last week approved an incentives package for Bass Pro worth $31 million in tax rebates. Bass Pro and Sweetwater officials have been talking since at least 2008 about bringing a store to the development, according to
Springfield Business Journal archives.
Under the
latest agreement, Bass Pro would build and operate the store for at least 20 years.
An opening date for the Bass Pro store has not been set.
"To have these guys anchor a 500-plus-acre development in our city means more new stores, more jobs, more residents, a more attractive community - just a whole lot of good things happening,” Decatur Mayor Don Kyle said in the release.
Bass Pro, which operates some 85 stores and marine centers in the U.S. and Canada, claims over 116 million annual visitors.[[In-content Ad]]
