IMAX at Bass Pro still a go despite two-year delay

“They’ll call a meeting, and we’ll go over and have some powwow, and we’ll look at models and all kinds of different things,” said project contractor Rick Quint of Walton Construction. “But I don’t know what’s going to happen there.”

Wonders of Wildlife Executive Director Tony Schoonen said the IMAX project is still a go, slated for completion in mid-2008. He said a massive design shift is responsible for the delay.

The project was originally announced in September 2003. At that time, it was supposed to be six stories, 18,000 square feet, connect to both Bass Pro and WOW and cost $7 million.

The new design would add 60,000 square feet of exhibit space to WOW and fill the entire space between Bass Pro and WOW, creating a single structure with the three facilities.

“We have been messing around with the architectural design of that whole complex, and I say complex because it’s expanded well beyond the IMAX at this point,” Schoonen said. “It’s going to be a pretty grand structure when it’s all said and done.”

Schoonen didn’t have an updated cost for the project, which will now be preceded by renovations to existing WOW space and include the addition of more live animals. The renovations could begin before the end of the year, he said.

Schoonen said Bass Pro founder and owner Johnny Morris is largely funding the WOW renovations and IMAX expansion, but the museum is also seeking other funding sources. A formal fund-raising drive won’t begin until plans are formalized.

Other lines in the water

Bass Pro, which operates 34 stores with another 24 either under construction or announced, has experienced several delays:

• Two Kansas City-area stores have delayed their grand openings, said Larry Whiteley, Bass Pro’s corporate spokesperson. A store under construction in Olathe, Kan., was slated to open this summer but has been pushed back to February. Construction in Independence hasn’t started, and its spring 2006 opening date has moved to November 2007.

• Bass Pro announced its intention to open a store in November 2004 in Buffalo, N.Y., but has yet to sign a formal development contract. Bass Pro was planning to renovate the former Municipal Auditorium, but the city has decided to tear down the facility, leaving Bass Pro with the option of new construction, Whiteley said.

• San Antonio Express-News sports columnist Ron Henry Strait wrote Aug. 28 that Bass Pro appears to be behind schedule on a new store slated for a late October opening there. Whiteley said the store would open Oct. 19.

• Bass Pro announced intentions in February to open a store in the vacant Pyramid Arena in downtown Memphis, Tenn. Meanwhile, city officials have become anxious that Bass Pro is being noncommittal and moving too slowly on the project. The two sides met Aug. 28, and the worries of city officials seem to have been eased, though Bass Pro has yet to commit fully. Whiteley said there is no timeline in Memphis.

Walton Construction’s Quint said Bass Pro experiences construction delays because it is an ambitious company with complex developments.

“Let’s face it, Bass Pro Shops is not something that you find in most code books,” he said. “And then, to make it all that much scarier, throw in Johnny Morris’ vision. The man shows up and he says, ‘It looks good, but I think it can look better.’”

WOW’s Big Day

Wonders of Wildlife will hold the 35th National Hunting and Fishing Day on Sept. 23. This year, WOW becomes the permanent headquarters for the annual event, created by a congressional resolution in 1972.

Country music artist Tracy Byrd, this year’s honorary chairman, will perform at a $50-a-ticket reception dinner in Bass Pro Shops’ White River Room.

WOW Executive Director Tony Schoonen said landing the event is a coup for Springfield tourism. He wouldn’t predict how many visitors it would draw this year, but he said it would bring thousands of visitors to town in coming years.

“This is a huge brand-builder for the city, and it’s eventually going to mean more heads on beds,” he said. “It sets us aside from the other 37 Springfields in the country as kind of the outdoor capital of the world.”[[In-content Ad]]