http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/200...on-says-s/
Bass Pro-Pyramid deal should be signed soon, says Shelby commissioner
By James Dowd (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
August 1, 2008
Updated 05:46 p.m., August 1, 2008
The much ballyhooed romance between Bass Pro Shops and The Pyramid appears headed toward a legal ceremony after all.
Memphis officials today basked in the glow of an upcoming engagement and predicted a rosy future of wedded bliss.
Bass Pro Shops has shown interest in the arena since ’05, but so far, no deal.
Following a conference call Thursday between local leaders, attorneys and Bass Pro officials, the deal is on its way to being finalized.
“We’re waiting for the signature, but that’s just a formality,” said Memphis City councilman Reid Hedgepeth. “The investment Bass Pro is going to make in this city and the crowds they’re going to draw will be huge.”
“If there’s any question, let just say that I’m very confident that they’re committed to coming here.”
Shelby County Commissioner Deidre Malone agreed.
“Everybody appears comfortable with the deal and we’re ready,” Malone said.
The deal includes a 12-month binding legal agreement with specific quarterly milestones attached. If either local legislative body decides the targets aren’t being met, they may opt out of the agreement.
If Bass Pro walks away from the deal after signing, it will pay the city $500,000.
In addition, the retailer will pay a yet-to-be-determined monthly rental fee for the facility. Further details have yet to be ironed out.
Hedgepeth and Malone served on the four-member Pyramid negotiating committee that has been working to ink a deal to bring the popular sporting goods giant to Memphis.
Malone said Bass Pro officials indicated late Thursday that they were ready to go ahead with the deal.
“We were talking to their attorneys and the next thing I know, (Bass Pro president) Jim Hagel was on the phone saying he was ready to sign,” Malone said. “He said he is excited about coming to Memphis.”
Malone expects Hagel to sign the agreement in the next few days and the local negotiating committee will review it when they meet at 4 p.m. on Thursday.
After review, the committee will present it to the Memphis City Council and the Shelby County Commission.
If both legislative bodies sign off on the deal, it will go before Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton and Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton for consideration.
The process will likely take four to six weeks.
“At this point it’s either move forward or move on,” Malone said. “There are no other options.”
Hedgepeth agreed.
“If the plan they sign is the same as what we discussed over the phone, then I’ll definitely recommend that they approve it,” Hedgepeth said.
Bass Pro officials were optimistic.
“We’re very excited about it,” said Larry Whiteley, Bass Pro spokesman. “We’re confident that everything’s going to work out.”
Robert Lipscomb, the city’s arena reuse project manager and also a member of the negotiating committee, declined to discuss details until after the deal is signed, but said that should happen early next week.
“We’re pleased with the progress,” Lipscomb said.
Still, some officials are taking a more guarded approach.
“I don’t want to prejudge it,” said Shelby County Commissioner Steve Mulroy, who had heard about, but not seen the agreement by early this afternoon. “I want to read the agreement. The devil’s in the details.”
Mulroy said he was wary of a repeat of events surrounding an agreement reached on Jan. 31 under which Bass Pro was to lease the Pyramid for $35,000 a month for a year. That deal was never consummated, he said.
Of the $500,000 payment Bass Pro will make under terms of the new agreement, Mulroy said, “Half a million is not much for a company Bass Pro’s size.”
The agreement also gives company officials another year to think about the project, he said.
“The time for thinking about it is over,” Mulroy said. “The time for a commitment is here.”
Shelby County chief administrative officer Jim Huntzicker, the fourth member of the negotiating committee, said the agreement had been put together by the city, but he had not seen it and didn’t know what provisions it included.
“The information I got yesterday was that there was a development agreement that had been finalized for Bass Pro’s signature,” Huntzicker said. “As everything in this project has been, it has been a long time coming.”
Hedgepeth acknowledged that the deal has taken time to formulate, but explained that it was not unusual for a project of this magnitude.
“A development of this sort, which will be well over $100 million, takes time to put together and I believe this has come together fairly quickly,” Hedgepeth said. “(Bass Pro) only got the seismic studies and soil testing results a couple of months ago, so for them to turn it around and be prepared to move forward shows their commitment.”
Bass Pro is a private company and therefore isn’t required to report sales figures, but the trade magazine Sporting Goods Business estimates the company had $2.2 billion in sales in 2007, up roughly 6 percent from 2006.
That makes it the 7th largest sports retailer in the United States. The leaders are the sporting goods departments of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., with $8.4 billion in sales, and Target, with $3.7 billion in sales, the magazine said.
The estimates are based on multiple interviews with companies and data from a computer system that tracks sales at some outlets, said Judy Leand, group editorial director for SportsOneSource Group, the Charlotte, N.C.-based parent company of the magazine.
Leand said many cities are willing to offer tax breaks to attract Bass Pro in the hopes of luring customers to shop at other local businesses.
“It’s a destination retailer.” she said. “People make special trips to go there.”
Bass Pro stores are huge — some even featuring large aquariums — and host numerous special events, demonstrations, hands-on displays and seminars, Leand noted.
“They just have a lot of appeal,” she said. “People want something to do on a Sunday afternoon. It’s almost like an event in itself.”
/
NTR- Pyramid To Soon Be Bass Pro Shops
and buses. If they do it right, Bass Pro is buying a landmark building and they can realize a lot of success. The location is excellent.
