The Analog Mom emailed me some very good news yesterday: I might be getting my very own Cabelas!
Cabela’s, which describes itself as the world’s foremost outfitter of fishing and hunting gear, is considering a store site in Lacey, but the city, state and property owner would have to spend up to $30 million to land its 400 jobs.
The Nebraska-based company has expressed a strong interest in property in Hawks Prairie for a $40 million store.
Negotiations have just begun on the property off Marvin Road just north of its Interstate 5 interchange.
The store is projected to be 225,000 square feet. To compare, the Hawks Prairie Wal-Mart is expanding to become a 216,076-square-foot “supercenter.â€
OK, so it won’t just be for me, but I might just think of it as such. And it is in the perfect location: Far enough away from me that I won’t be there every weekend and close enough to the Analog Mom that I can guess where my future Christmas presents will be coming from.
It is also coming to a town that is business friendly and centrally located so that Rivrdog and I can meet up for lunch and then head on over to the store. It is also near enough to the epicenter of the Treehugger Community that having a decent “Hunting and Fishing Outfitter” in their midst would put them into a right good conniption.
C’mon City of Lacey, don’t screw this up.
In addition the the gunny delights, you may be in for another treat if they build near you. A great place to spend some time away from the PeTA crowd!
Will they be live-modeling their famous tan-through swimwear for wimmen?
And every bit as worthwhile as a couple sports stadiums in downtown Seattle – don’tcha think?
MA
Our own Cabellas?? Oh, that would be sweet!
Crap ! ! I can barely get out of the Sportco store in Fife with the mortgage payment intact. There’s no way on Earth I’ll escape a Cabela’s and still have enough left to make the house payment.
I live in Lacey, just one exit down from the proposed Cabela’s location. And I seem to recall the article mentioning something about Cabela’s wanting a tax break, or some other such way of taking money out of my pocket (other than through their cash resgisters.)
If that’s the case, they can go find some other sucker city to cough up the dough. Now, if they want to do the whole thing with their own money, like any small business entrpenuer, I’ll be there, Visa in hand.
Yes, there will be costs to the city and state, but it is not in tax breaks, at least not according to the article I was able to find.
The City Spends $34.7 Million
Cabelas Spends a minimum of $40 Million
The land owner picks up an unspecifiied amount.
The city, and the state in the form of $10 Million of grant money deducted from the $34.7 Million listed above, is going only to infrastructure improvements needed to make sure people can get to and from the area.
The state will make that money back in less than two years of sales and B&O taxes. The city might take up to 8 years because of the larger amount they’re countributing.This would be an investment instead of a money trough.
It would be impossible to expect a private company to have to pay for road improvements when the city, county and state have all the say in how much the improvements will cost because of contracting and standards. Some of it, maybe, but no way all of it.
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