BY ANDREA HOLECEK, Times of Northwest Indiana
holecek@nwitimes.com
HAMMOND | Bass Pro Shops' announcement it will open in Portage toward year's end isn't affecting Cabela's plan to build a megastore in Hammond, the company said Friday.
"Certainly, we're interested in that," said Cabela's spokesman David Draper. "But it won't affect our plans. Competition is great, but it doesn't drive our decisions. We've had our plans on the board for some time. We just hope we get the same fair shake as they got from the state."
The Nebraska-based outdoors outfitter and the Indiana Finance Authority have been negotiating an incentives package for the retailer for almost six months. Cabela's wants the incentives in exchange for the peripheral development its complex would attract, the millions in sales tax revenues that would be produced and the jobs it will bring to the area.
Since the negotiations began, the state has awarded the city of Portage a $2.5 million grant to fund planning and infrastructure at the AmeriPlex at the Port business park property that will house the 130,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shops facility.
Cabela's and the state still are in negotiations, Draper said.
"We're moving forward, but there's no real news on our part," he said. "We're doing our due diligence and putting everything together like it's going to happen, so when we do get the thumbs up, we can move as quickly as possible."
The state rejected Cabela's initial incentives request that included Sales Tax Increment Financing, but it could provide infrastructure and job training grants as well as tax credits. Gov. Mitch Daniels repeatedly has said he is monitoring the situation and wants the Cabela's development to become a reality.
No one from the state returned calls for comment Friday.
Cabela's bought the about 100-acre Woodmar Country Club for $12 million in October as a site for its $95 million project. The site's location, abutting Indianapolis Boulevard just south of Interstate 80-94, would need access points to and from Indianapolis. Those access points are part of the ongoing negotiations with the state, said Peter Novak Jr., Hammond's economic development director.