Bass Pro gives inside peek of Memphis Pyramid

Bass Pro Shops is making progress converting the former Memphis Pyramid basketball arena into a tourist destination and retail store.

According to the Commercial Appeal, Memphis City Council members got a tour Feb. 18 to see the work firsthand – after five years of discussions and a few snags.

“There’s still that urban myth that they’re not coming,” Memphis councilman Jim Strickland told the Commercial Appeal on the tour. “They’re not only going to be here, but this place is going to be open by Christmas.”

The landmark structure was hollowed out for Bass Pro, and plans shown on the tour include retail shops, a restaurant, a spa, a bowling alley, archery and shooting ranges, a swamp, a place to learn how to kayak and canoe, an alligator pit, a zip line and a 100-room hotel on the third floor with a couple of “tree house” suites floating over the man-made vegetation below. The Commercial Appeal also reports an observation deck at the apex of The Pyramid will have see-through glass for visitors to view the city.

Bass Pro architect Tom Jowett read for nearly 50 seconds a long list of activities planned for visitors.

“They can have fun,” Jowett concluded.

Currently, the floor is primarily dirt, the pit for the alligators has been dug but not filled, strings of light hung as a frame for where the elevator would go in the middle of the structure, and banners circled the arena to show where amenities are expected to go.

In 2010, the city agreed to lease The Pyramid to Bass Pro Shops for 20 years, with seven optional five-year renewals. In 2011, the city council voted to allow the Downtown Memphis Commission to issue $215 million in bonds to fund the renovation project. Increased downtown sales tax revenues are expected to pay for the bonds.

Read more from the Commercial Appeal.