Blue Springs now in race for Bass Pro? Where will they go?

KCgridlock · Post by **KCgridlock** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 7:26 am

So far we have:

Olathe
Downtown
Independence
Sports Complex
Bannister Mall
Blue Ridge Mall
Blue Springs

What happened to Briarcliff?

Must be nice to have cities falling all over themselves to get your company to come to town.

I still say use this to bring back a struggling retail area like Blue Ridge Mall or Bannister Mall. If they go to Olathe, Blue Springs or Eastland, they better pay full taxes.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 7:48 am

they aren't going to pay tax 1 no matter where they go.....

my favorite spot is now by the Truman Sports Complex.....put the new Kauffman where they were thinking about putting BPS

ShowME · Post by **ShowME** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 3:59 pm

I just don't understand why they would go to Kansas. Bass Pro is a sportsman's paradise especially fishing. That doesn't sound like Kansas to me.

tat2kc · Post by **tat2kc** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 6:17 pm

This is turning into a complete feeding frenzy. No retailer is worth this much trouble!! Betcha it will end up in JOCO, and the they will foot the bill for the entire construction, as well as give massive tax breaks. It'll make what happened in WYCO at the speedway look like a walk in the park.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 7:39 pm

ShowME wrote:I just don't understand why they would go to Kansas. Bass Pro is a sportsman's paradise especially fishing. That doesn't sound like Kansas to me.

I agree, it would be stupid for Bass Pro to go to Kansas, especially since they already have Cabela's over here.

Missouri = Fishing paradise...Milford Lake in Kansas has nothing on Table Rock Lake or Lake of the Ozarks.
Kansas = Hunting paradise

The best site for Bass Pro would be near the Truman Sports Complex. Blue Springs/Independence should get a Dave & Buster's along I-70. Blue Ridge Mall should stick to antiques. Bannister Mall should get a bomb and blow up the Jones Store. Olathe should jus' get a clue!

KCgridlock · Post by **KCgridlock** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 8:04 pm

I still say they should go to Bannister Mall. The "gateway" to the lakes the Grandview Triangle and it's actcually pretty close to the populaton center of the metro area. Help revive SKC.

Blue Ridge Mall just needs a big theater complex and a super target as anchors and it will be fine as a neighborhood center.

Truman Sports Complex? I don't know. Long term, the Royals should go downtown and the Chiefs get more parking, Concentrate on Blue Ridge Mall in that area.

Eastland and Blue Springs? As with Olathe, much development is and will occur there anyway, little or no spin off development will occur wile aging areas continue to decline.

Downtown, depends on the design, but would rather not see a Bass Pro, just don't know yet. The city will practically build it if they came downtown, so I don't know why they couldn't land a Galyans or IKEA Downtown.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 8:06 pm

Yeah I think I'm off Bass Pro Shop downtown...I went the full circle on that one...when I first saw it I was upset, then I kind of thought it would be ok, now I'm back to not cool....

get something else down here.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 8:37 pm

KC wrote:get something else down here.

An arena, a Galyans, a Barnes & Noble, a Jillians, a Hard Rock (takin' criticism for this one), a Living History Museum (although the West Bottoms might nab this one if a new arena is built downtown), a House of Blues, an urban designed grocery store with loft housing above it, a skate park, a AMC, a Missouri Department of Tourism Visitors Center/Missouri Natural History Museum, a barbeque district, a nightlife district....oh yeah, and another haunted house...j/k.

Put a Great Rivers of North America Aquarium, a conservatory & gardens, a riverboat cruise/evening bar & grill, a few nice apartments with ground level coffee houses and shops, a Lewis & Clark Museum and the World's Largest River Fountain down at the riverfront.

Post by **dangerboy** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 10:52 pm

Now that Kansas took their STAR bonds state-wide, MODESA is probably the only way Missouri will be able to put up a compettive bid if Bass Pro decides on money alone. MODESA is limited to downtown or main street areas, and downtown KCMO is the only one of those areas big enough to handle it.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 11:14 pm

dangerboy wrote:Now that Kansas took their STAR bonds state-wide

I hope STAR bonds help Wichita become a first-class city...JOCO doesn't need that garbage because they are already overdeveloped and it's puttin' too much strain on the metro. I think it's safe to say that everybody on this list, Kansans and Missourians, share this opinion.

KCgridlock · Post by **KCgridlock** » Wed Apr 23, 2003 11:16 pm

QueSi2Opie wrote:
dangerboy wrote:Now that Kansas took their STAR bonds state-wide
I hope STAR bonds help Wichita become a first-class city...JOCO doesn't need that garbage because they are already overdeveloped and it's puttin' too much strain on the metro. I think it's safe to say that everybody on this list, Kansans and Missourians, share this opinion.

JoCo needs star bonds like it needs another beige strip mall.

Post by **dangerboy** » Thu Apr 24, 2003 6:47 am

KCgridlock wrote:JoCo needs star bonds like it needs another beige strip mall.

It's purely greed. Even though Joco continues to thrive, they are jealous that other parts of the metro are registering big successes. (Even places like KCK that are in their own state) Everyone else is just worried about their fair share, but Joco continues to try taking the whole thing.

Retail is taking off in the Northland and eastern Jack. Offices are moving to the Northland and Lee's Summit. KCK is coming back from the dead. Downtown KCMO is starting to reassert its long-dormant leadership of the metro. Companies that have been in Joco for 15 years are starting to realized they repeat the tax-break/stateline shuffle and jump back across for more money.

Joco isn't declining, but metro development is finally becoming more balanced again, and they see that as threat.

QueSi2Opie · Post by **QueSi2Opie** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 3:27 am

dangerboy wrote:It's purely greed

Of course...

Anyhow, it's goin' to be funny, but sad, when Bass Pro comes to town. Many of us criticize Cordish for wantin' to put this hick establishment in downtown KC, but I guarantee it will draw more visitors in its first year than Union Station/Science City did four years ago. The two biggest attractions in the Kansas City area? Cabela's and Bass Pro Shop?

Post by **mean** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 12:30 pm

The visitor numbers will probably be high initially, but this model of development (the "communities fight over development using incentives" model vs. "development follows density") indicates that Bass Pro is primarily interested in money. Not a problem, they're a corp, that's how it is, but if you draw this whole thing out to its logical conclusion, they will want to continue to grow and grow and grow, which means more and more Bass Pro Shops nationwide, which means the tourism numbers will fall off, probably much quicker than our optimistic analysts predict.

In an attempt to perhaps clarify why the "fighting over development" model is bad, take a look at Hollywood. It is a well-known secret that movie studios fight over scripts like feral cats. As soon as any studio appears interested, all the other studios begin fighting over it...whether they've read the script or not, whether they know what it's about, etc. The end result is that bad scripts get sold for way way more than they're worth and end up bombing in the theatres. I think this is a very good analogy for how development works these days. Cities offer more and more and more to developers in an attempt to win the project. As in Hollywood, nobody considers the possibility that the project could bomb, but they do...all the time. Not always spectacularly, but I think it's safe at this time to call Science City and the Jazz District two of our most recent bombs. Fortunately, developments, unlike movies, can be fixed, improved, made to be successful....but at what cost in terms of time and money?

Which isn't to say cities shouldn't take risks, only that cities should take calculated risks rather than selling the farm to developers in competition with other nearby cities every time a new project comes through. JoCo has not learned this lesson at all. They will.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Fri Apr 25, 2003 1:13 pm

the biggest attractions anywhere are these type of things because they are free....the casino is also one of the biggest attractions in the city.

Post by **mean** » Sat Apr 26, 2003 11:31 am

I can't think of a single worthwhile free attraction in central Florida, but that's more or less the tourism capital of America.

KCgridlock · Post by **KCgridlock** » Sun May 11, 2003 10:19 pm

These things will be like Dicks sporting goods in a few years...

Bass Pro Shops consider area for store
By James Dornbrook
The Examiner
It's becoming readily apparent that nothing generates rumors like a coveted retailer such as Bass Pro Shops saying they want to build a new store in the Kansas City area.

These rumors are keeping Bass Pro Shops Spokesman Larry Whiteley working overtime setting the record straight, yet at the same time, he's trying to keep his cards close to his chest.

"We are still interested in opening a new store in the Kansas City area and rumors to the contrary are completely false," said Whiteley. "Management is keeping its options open and is still in the process of weighing all of the offers they've been given. We have not narrowed anything down yet,"

Whiteley said it is true that Leaven worth, Kan., has made an offer. The city joins Kansas City, Independence, North Kansas City, Olathe, Jackson County, Blue Springs and a host of others all courting the sporting goods retail giant.

Whiteley said he could not say when Bass Pro Shops would make a decision.

"People need to realize this is a time consuming process. It won't happen overnight," he said. "We are taking a close look at every offer that's been made and giving them all serious consideration."

Sen. Matt Bartle, R-Lee's Summit, said the Missouri state government is willing to do whatever is necessary to persuade Bass Pro to build the new store in Missouri.

"We got involved because Kansas is vying for them as well as Missouri. There are state economic development funds available and other state programs available to help attract Bass Pro Shops to Independence," said Matt Bartle. "St. Louis received a lion's share of the economic development focus in the past and my sense is that this is going to change. St. Louis is not competing with Illinois in the same way that Kansas City is competing with Kansas."

Bartle said he remains hopeful that Bass Pro Shops will come to Jackson County, because it would be a major victory for the state.

Steve Ehrhart, developer of Eastland Center in Indepen dence, said he is comfortable that the offer he presented is very competitive with other offers Bass Pro Shops has received, especially since the state is willing to help sweeten the deal.

"My offer was sufficient to give them a great site in Independence," Ehrhart said.

He added that a development like Bass Pro Shops is highly coveted, because it has the ability to draw customers from far away. Ehrhart shared revenue projections showing that for every dollar of sales generated at Bass Pro Shops, there is a dollar generated for another business in this area. Their customers often stay at hotels, eat at restaurants, buy gas, shop for memorabilia, and visit local tourism sites.

"The beauty of it is almost all of the sales come from outside the area where the store is located. That is a tremendous benefit for any city and worth fighting for," said Ehrhart. "If Bass Pro came to Eastland, there would certainly be a higher demand for hotels and restaurants. There would definitely be a higher occupancy rate for the hotels in the area, probably warranting construction of another hotel and additional restaurants. No matter what happens though, Eastland will still have an office component, hotels, restaurants and retail."

trailerkid · Post by **trailerkid** » Sun May 11, 2003 10:24 pm

DEAR GOD!!!
Are people losing their minds? These cities think the name recognition of having Bass Pro is worth more than the 10s of millions of dollars in land and tax breaks they have to give them to locate there. I wish there was a bidding war between apartment complexes to get me to move. This is insane, and KC MO should be the first one to throw in the towel and not be a part of this madness.

KCgridlock · Post by **KCgridlock** » Tue May 13, 2003 11:57 pm

This was in the paper today and I thought it was hillarious how this ammendment was worded, read on.

BTW, I am not a suburban tiff supporter, but this location in Independence has extremely rough terrain and would trully need at least some assistance at least to be developed, that just can't be said for 119th and Renner.

I'm following this Bass Pro thing now because I am just currious as to where they will go. I would really like to see them be a part of a major Blue Ridge Mall redevelopment, but I have a feeling they will go to I-470 & I-70 and anchor the east side of the metro away from Cabella's and at the gateway to many local and outstate lakes in the very hot tricities area.

Anyway...

Unnecessary incentives

In other matters, last week I chided Kansas lawmakers for amending the STAR bond program so its tax incentives could be offered to a Bass Pro Shop proposed for 119th Street and Renner Road in Olathe.

Offering tax incentives to help developers build where they already want to go isn't good public policy, I suggested.

This week it's Missouri's turn. The subject once again is Bass Pro.

In one of the more humorous examples of legislative language, Sen. Matt Bartle, a Lee's Summit Republican, recently attached an amendment to aid developers eager to bring Bass Pro to eastern Jackson County.

The amendment allows any city between 113,200 and 113,300 inhabitants to create a satellite enterprise zone "along the southwest corner of any intersection of two United States interstate highways."

Get out your Missouri atlas.

There's only one place where this applies: the interchange of Interstates 70 and 470 in Independence (population 113,288). Anyone who has been by there recently knows its not exactly unknown territory for developers.

Between Independence Center, the Eastland development and all the big-box retail construction going on around that interchange, the southwest corner doesn't need help from taxpayers.

If someone wants tax incentives for Bass Pro, it should be linked to a greater public benefit than simply fueling more urban sprawl.

KCgridlock · Post by **KCgridlock** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 12:34 am

Not sure why I am following this, I guess I am currious as to where they well end up.

Bass Pro likes Jackson County, chamber hears
By Stephanie Howard
The Examiner
A Bass Pro Shop in Jackson County may be more than caviar dreams for local officials.

Joe Driskell, Missouri economic development director, said it is no secret that the Missouri-based business is interested in Jackson County.

"They're looking for a location in the Kansas City area," Driskell told members of the Blue Springs Chamber of Commerce. "They really like Jackson County. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they're going to make a decision."

Driskell was mostly tight-lipped about discussions going on between his office and the retailer.

"They find it (Jackson County) to be a very desirable area with access to services," Driskell said.

Driskell also discussed the state's economy. Although manufacturing provides about 13 percent of the jobs in Missouri, Driskell said it is the basis of the economy because it provides 25 percent of the income.

Driskell said there is a real concern with the loss of manufacturing jobs in rural Missouri, adding there are several things communities can do to keep and attract businesses.

He indicated enhancing education, providing a more supportive environment for businesses, promoting business accountability, running efficient government and reforming regulatory action could help attract more businesses to the community.

"While we need to continue to do work to attract more business to the community, in addition, we need to do some long range planning," Driskell said.

Also, the chamber is starting plans for the Fall Fun Fest, Sept. 12 through 14. The theme for this year's parade is Movie Memories, and anyone interested in participating can pick up applications at the chamber office.

Also, the chamber is looking for volunteers to help with this year's festivities.

To reach Stephanie Howard, e-mail showard@examiner.net or call her at (816) 229-9161, Ext. 25.