Sarpy County Cabela's??

[Sodak]

This just in. I'm guessing they location is between Gretna and the Platte River. A new exit is being studied off I-80.

Published Wednesday
January 19, 2005

Cabela's considers Sarpy store

BY SHANNON HENSON



WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

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Rapidly expanding Cabela's has trained its sights on the Omaha area, specifically Sarpy County.

A bill was recently introduced in the Nebraska Legislature at Cabela's request that would help make the construction of another store possible. Without it, though, the plans may stall.

"A lot of good customers are in that (Omaha) area, so we're always looking to make sales conveniently available to good customers," said Cabela's spokesman Joe Arterburn.

No one involved in the project would specify where the development would be located.

A Sarpy County store would be the Cabela's chain's 17th and its third in Nebraska. It has 10 up and running, two under construction and four, not including the Sarpy County store, being planned.

The hunting and fishing retailer has been on an aggressive expansion run, financed in part by a public stock offering in June.

Sens. Dave Landis of Lincoln and Gail Kopplin of Gretna co-sponsored Legislative Bill 500, which would allow for the creation of an entertainment and development district.

The law would allow a local government to retain up to 75 percent of state lodging, sales and use tax revenues generated within the district. That money then would be used to pay for infrastructure for the project.

To qualify, a business would have to invest $20 million and create 150 new jobs.

The bill would expire in two years, which Landis thinks means that Cabela's would be the only company to use it.

Considering the start-up costs involved and the need to purchase land, Landis said, two years would be a quick turn-around.

Landis said that Cabela's is an attractive development, and that the state must compete to get it. The chain received similar incentives to build in Kansas City, Kan., Landis and Cabela's lobbyist Walt Radcliffe said.

The bill is in the Revenue Committee.

If the bill doesn't pass, Arterburn, of Cabela's, said that would affect "the timing of the decision to build."

Toby Churchill, the Sarpy County Economic Development director, said the state now has no incentives to encourage retail growth.

He said Sarpy County lost Bass Pro Shops to Council Bluffs, where more incentives were available.

Churchill said a new Cabela's store would bring tax growth and jobs to the area.

The area could become an "entertainment corner" like in Kansas City, where the Great Wolf Lodge, Kansas Speedway and Nebraska Furniture Mart coexist with Cabela's.

Cabela's opened the Kansas City store in 2002, one in Hamburg, Pa., in 2003 and another in Wheeling, W.Va., last year.

Texas stores being built near Fort Worth and Austin are scheduled to open this year.

The company has announced it is negotiating to build at its third Minnesota site, at Rogers in the Minneapolis area, and open it in 2006; its first in Colorado, at Wheat Ridge, to open in 2006; at Lehi, Utah, near Salt Lake City, to open this year; and at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J., to open in 2007.

World-Herald staff writer Virgil Larson contributed to this report.


Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom

[j4nu]

Great news for sure. I would love to see this built around the outlets to breath new life into the area. Another spot may be over by Pay Pal.

[icejammer]

No surprise here, given that Bass Pro Shops will be opening this year in the metro.

[nebrwesleyan]

could it be part of Papillion Promenade, or are the spaces too small for this?

[Jays Fan]

Rumor has it that it would be placed on the Platte River near I-80.

[eomaha]

Out near Mahoney is the most likely location I suppose (given the park is already pulling over 1 million visitors a year alone). However, my dark horse is the Embassy Suites/La Vista convention center anchored South Port.