Bass Pro Shops expands

Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World is southbound.

Work on a 3,000-square-foot addition on the south side of the existing store began April 16 and is scheduled for completion Aug. 8, said Dennis Gromer, project manager for MECO Systems, the general contractor for the project.

The cost for the store renovation will be close to $353,000, he added.

Bass Pro Shops will spend an additional $348,000 on ventilation and roof work, Gromer added.

Beyond this, a parking lot expansion and significant roadwork on Cherokee Street will add another $498,000 to the overall project, he added. The total cost of the project is estimated at nearly $1.2 million.

As part of an interior-remodeling plan, Bass Pro is moving its first floor entrance on the south side 15 feet closer to Cherokee Street to accommodate additional cash registers, said Larry Whiteley, public relations spokesman for Bass Pro Shops.

The five new registers will be placed along an 80-foot expanse west of the of the store's current south-side entrance, Gromer said.

The renovation also includes moving Bass Pro Shops' 900-square-foot bakery facilities from the north side of the store to just east of Hemingway's on the south side, said Stephen Johnson, project supervisor for MECO Systems Inc.

When completed, the first floor entrance will open to a high ceiling with no apparent second floor, except for a mechanical room on the west end, Gromer said.

Outdoor World's renovated south-side exterior will feature glasswork on the ground floor with siding above, similar to the existing building, Gromer said. The project will not involve modification to the existing interior stairway, he added.

Gromer said the only part of the store to be closed during the renovations will be the south entryway. A new entry will be opened to the east for use during construction, he added.

The initial work on Bass Pro Shops' parking lot south of Cherokee Street is on hold until the city informs Gromer when it will close off the street for its own work. He said the city should be in contact with him in early May and added the anticipated parking lot completion date is set for "late October or November."

City Council approved closing off Cherokee Street between Campbell Avenue and Sagamont Avenue at their Sept. 17, 2001, meeting.

David Hutchison, traffic operations engineer for the city, detailed the changes to be made to Cherokee. "As you approach the Bass Pro campus (from the west), the new Cherokee Street will curve to the south and then it will go along the west side of the parking lot and then it will curve back to the east to where McGee is now. And then it will follow the McGee alignment to Campbell."

Mike Giles, principal civil engineer for the city of Springfield, said he hopes the city's project will be done by the end of summer. The project should take 60 days to complete once a contractor is chosen, he said, and bids will be opened May 24. The cost will be between $500,000 and $1 million.

During this construction phase, Chero-kee will be blocked off to the west end of Bass Pro Shop's property, Gromer said. "Then we're going to modify all the parking to make it work with the new entryway."

All told, about 130 new parking spaces should be added. Nearly 70 will be added to Bass Pro Shop's existing lot and another 60 will be placed in front of the store along the corridor where Cherokee is now, Gromer said. Parking lot islands will be modified and more lighting will be added too, he said.