The Pyramid indoor theme park for Memphis, TN?

[coasterdude5]

I didn't think Bass Pro was capable of this!

 

A Bass Pro Shops megastore at The Pyramid could include an indoor hotel, a marina with on-the-water boat testing and an inclinator ride to the top of the building, according to conceptual drawings unveiled Friday.

A 2008 opening is envisioned.

 

Also, officials of the Springfield, Mo.-based outdoors retailer are talking with local proponents of an indoor theme park.

"We will certainly entertain their concept," Jim Hagale, Bass Pro president, said after a Pyramid press conference attended by city and county leaders. "We're going to be very thoughtful about what goes in here. We want to make sure it's the right synergy."

 

The store, which would be among Bass Pro's largest, also could include multiple restaurants, an aquarium, mountain and waterfall, other water features, including a cypress swamp, and a giant scoreboard with video screen.

 

"I'm very optimistic at this point of working with Bass Pro," said theme park front man Greg Ericson, a local marketing executive who attended the press conference and private luncheon afterward, talking for several minutes with Hagale.

 

Ericson said plans for "Pyramid Park Memphis" would have to be modified, based on Bass Pro's conceptual drawings, but, "We're definitely interested in moving forward."

 

The Bass Pro project isn't guaranteed, despite a company press release headlined "Bass Pro Shops Coming to the Memphis Pyramid."

 

The company must perform due diligence on a facility built for basketball, concerts and other arena events. It's estimated the company will spend $75 million for redevelopment, and that figure could climb.

 

Also, Bass Pro's letter of intent with the city and county is nonbinding.

 

But if the plan becomes reality, it could give Memphis a major economic and tourism boost: Bass Pro's flagship store in Springfield draws 4 million visitors annually.

 

"Bass Pro is really a combination of many elements -- a tourist attraction, an amusement park, an aquarium, a cultural museum, a national history museum, a nature conservancy, a zoo and, finally, a very fine shopping experience," said Scott Ledbetter, chairman of the public-private committee that pursued Bass Pro.

 

After months of negotiation, the company recently signed the nonbinding letter of intent with the city and county. That's a precursor to a more binding development agreement.

 

Terms call for Bass Pro to receive $30 million in federal incentives, based on the company spending $75 million to redevelop the arena.

 

Bass Pro would pay a minimum of $1 million annually in rent or taxes.

 

Asked if anything could derail the project, Hagale said, "There are no guarantees of anything. I suppose something could happen. But frankly, I'm not aware of anything that would be a risk."

 

He downplayed similarities to a Buffalo, N.Y., project, in which Bass Pro is converting the city's old Memorial Auditorium and adding a hotel.

 

That project was announced in November 2004, but a formal contract has yet to be signed.

 

"That structure is pre-World War II," Hagale said of the Buffalo arena. "It's been vacant for 10 years. It's not the same type of structure with modern amenities, like The Pyramid."

 

Also, he said, Memphis' Downtown development is "further along on the curve" than Buffalo's.

 

Robert Lipscomb, chief financial officer for the city of Memphis, agreed. He also suggested Bass Pro would be motivated to move quickly for purely business reasons.

 

"This," Lipscomb said of Memphis and the Mid-South, "is their audience."

 

-- David Williams: 529-2310

 

--------------------

 

BASS PRO TIMELINE

 

Feb. 15: City unveils nonbinding letter of intent with Bass Pro

 

About April 1: target for signing a more formal development agreement

 

About July 1: target for Bass Pro taking possession of the building

 

2008: tentative opening

Edited April 6, 2010 by jedimaster1227

[Jeezus Juice]

A hotel and an indoor shopping center for a fish store?

 

What am I missing? The place sounds really cool and all but it just seems dumb. Like Burger King university or something.

 

Can't wait to find out more info on the Memphis Fish Pyramid!

 

-Don

[coasterdude5]

^ Yeah, I'd much rather have just an aquarium or something like that. But the concept art looks pretty nice to say the least.

 

We really need more things to do downtown and attract people so anything's better than nothing.

[jedimaster1227]

http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/local/040110-pyramid-bass-pro-deal-still-in-limbo

 

Another deadline comes and goes on the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid deal. Once again the possibility of flooding and earthquakes has the retailer needing more time to commit. The deadlines in this potential deal, which has spanned 5 years, have been moved and extended before. Wednesday, another 3 month extension lapsed with an agreement to meet again in 30 days.

 

City Council Member, Myron Lowery, isn't put off by the Bass Pro Shops - Pyramid deal taking more time. He said he's pleased it's moving forward and the city's still collecting a monthly rent. "Bass Pro continues to pay rent on that facility, $35,000," he said.

 

Lowery was Memphis' Mayor Pro Temp in December when council members gave Bass Pro the green light to take 3 more months to think things through. The anniversary of that 3 month extension was Wednesday, March 31st. "It doesn't matter what you call it. It is what it is," said Lowery.

 

City officials close to the deal weren't available to explain the delay which pushes a final agreement on turning the old "tomb of doom" into a Bass Pro retail shopping center to April 29th. But a spokesperson with Mayor A C Wharton's office said the city and Bass Pro are working on particulars relative to the pyramid's seismic and flooding issues.

 

"That a correctable thing that can be done down on the river as far as flood walls that sort of thing. Seismic is another matter," another city council member, Bill Boyd said.

 

Bass Pro cited concerns over the Pyramid's structure in its last extension, granted weeks before its contract expired. Without other options on the table, the city signed off. "I don't think they would be paying this rent just to string us along," Lowery said.

 

Since beginning monthly payments in 2009 as part of the deal to eventually buy the Pyramid, Bass Pro has paid close to half a million dollars in rent to the city. City council members say that's also the amount Bass Pro's contract said they'd have to pay if they ever decided to completely walk away from the deal.

 

"There's so much to gain out there so, I think we should be patient," Boyd said.

 

Representatives for Bass Pro Shops were unavailable for comment.