Bass Pro to anchor Colorado development

Springfield-based outdoor retailer Bass Pro Shops Inc. has signed a letter of intent to build a store within the 200-acre Copper Ridge development in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The roughly 117,000-square-foot store would be the first tenant for Copper Ridge, which is designed to comprise 2 million square feet for retail, restaurants, offices, residential lofts and a hotel, according to a Bass Pro news release.

Copper Ridge developer Gary Erickson said in the release that a groundbreaking would likely be held in April, and the store would be completed in the summer of 2013. The Bass Pro Shops Sportsman's Center would initially generate at least 250 jobs.

“We are very excited to bring Bass Pro Shops to Colorado Springs and be part of this major development,” Bass Pro founder Johnny Morris said in the release. “The area’s long history of great fishing and hunting traditions along with this highly visible and accessible location make it the perfect place to allow us to better serve our many customers and all the outdoor enthusiasts that visit and live in this beautiful part of the country.”

The site is near the U.S. Air Force Academy and fronts an interstate.

In the release, Ken Lund, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, said Bass Pro is a good fit for the state, where the outdoors industry collects more than $10 billion in annual revenues and employs more than 107,000.

Bass Pro already operates a store in Denver.

“Bass Pro Shops and other outdoor retailers help fuel the passion for outdoor recreation that so many Coloradans have," Lund said in the release.

In addition to providing outdoor equipment, the Colorado Springs store would include a boat showroom, which would feature boats built by Bass Pro's house brand, Tracker Marine.

Bass Pro spokesman Larry Whiteley said via e-mail that the Colorado Springs store likely would be the 59th location for the retailer, provided its store at the Pyramid in Memphis, Tenn., doesn't open before it. The Memphis store is tentatively set to open in August 2013, he said.
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