Annual sales at Bass Pro Shops’ Broken Arrow, Okla., store have posted increases in three of the last four years, but store sales alone have not been enough to cover the retailer’s full lease payment to the city that is southeast of Tulsa.
According to a
Tulsa World report today, Springfield-based Bass Pro has met its $850,000 lease payment each year since 2006. Under terms of the development agreement, Bass Pro remits to the city 2 percent of annual store sales and cuts another check, if necessary, to cover the balance.
For 2010 store sales, two percent amounted to $747,247, leaving a $102,753 balloon payment to meet the minimum spelled out in the 20-year lease, according to the Tulsa World’s review of city records. If annual store sales reached $42.5 million, privately held Bass Pro would not have to make a separate payment at the end of the year.
The city of Broken Arrow took out a controversial $24 million loan to finance construction of the $20 million Bass Pro store, which opened in late 2005, and road infrastructure in the Stone Wood Hills development it anchors. City officials told Tulsa World the outdoor store is partly responsible for spurring additional developments – and new sales taxes – pointing to a dozen restaurants, two hotels, a shopping center, a movie theater and Target. They estimate the city debt will be paid off in 15 years, at which point Bass Pro would have the option to buy the 130,000-square-foot building at a market rate.
Bass Pro has applied similar lease models with communities and developers as it has grown its store count to 57 in recent years.
After the city reached its deal with Bass Pro, Broken Arrow taxpayers took the city to court asserting city officials violated Oklahoma’s open meetings law and were “duped” into paying the construction costs. In 2006, a Tulsa, Okla., judge dismissed the suit, ruling the deal was legal and in good faith.[[In-content Ad]]
