Bass Pro to build seventh Texas store

Bass Pro Shops is planning its seventh Texas store in the Austin metropolitan area.

The 104,000-square-foot Outdoor World is slated to open in 2015 in Round Rock, part of a metro area sporting some 1.9 million people, according to a news release from the Texas city.

“Bass Pro Shops is an internationally recognized brand that will draw outdoor enthusiasts from across the region and state to shop in our community," Round Rock Mayor Alan McGraw said in the release. "The addition of a large sales tax generator like Bass Pro Shops will further diversify our sources of revenue, which is great news for all Round Rock taxpayers.”

The Round Rock City Council is scheduled to vote Aug. 22 on an incentives plan that would allow performance-based economic development grants to cut a portion of the store's development costs. Generated by the city's 1 percent sales tax, the economic incentive payments would be made quarterly, with a maximum of $500,000 per calendar year, and maximum of $4 million during the term of the 10-year contract. The city also would spend up to $500,000 for infrastructure improvements at the site. The agreement notes Bass Pro plans to hire 175 full- and part-time employees and invest a minimum of $20 million in the store's development.

Located along Interstate 35, the store also would include an Uncle Buck's Fishbowl and Grill, an ocean-themed restaurant and bowling alley concept. The proposed Bass Pro store would be near Round Rock Premium Outlets and an IKEA location, which both also received city incentives, the release said.