Bass Pro aims to draw millions to Washington County site
With its own shooting and archery ranges, a park and an all-terrain vehicle test track, the $187 million store complex that Bass Pro Shops is planning in Washington County could become a destination for millions of visitors.
"Our 27 stores throughout the nation annually attract 75 million visitors," Bass Pro spokesman Martin G. MacDonald said Monday at an event near the site to discuss the development.
The retailer plans to create a campus-style development on 211 acres in South Strabane near the Interstate 79 interchange at Racetrack Road and across from The Meadows harness race track.
The store will have 200,000 to 250,000 square feet of space, and a 200-room hotel will sit above it, said Michael Dunham, Bass Pro Shops director of real estate. There also will be 18 two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom guest cabins.
The Adirondack lodge-style outdoor store will have an indoor boat showroom and restaurant and could include indoor/outdoor shooting and archery ranges, an ATV test rack, nature park and a 10,000-square-foot spa, he said.
Several restaurants new to the Pittsburgh area also could be included, such as Islamarada, a seafood restaurant now in Florida, Dunham said. Other planned attractions include wildlife displays, waterfalls and aquariums stocked with native fish and a mountain wall for climbing.
"This will be a first-of-its-kind for Bass Pro Shops in that we will develop the entire site, including supporting retail stores, restaurants, attractions and exhibits to complement the outdoor attraction," MacDonald said.
At other Bass Pro Shops in the nation, the Springfield, Mo.-based company has contracted with developers to build restaurants or retail facilities.
Once it opens, the Bass Pro Shops at the planned Victory Centre will offer conservation and outdoor seminars, many of them aimed at young people in the region, MacDonald said.
Dunham said after an expanded Meadow Lands interchange off I-79 is completed, and if the three local taxing bodies -- Washington County, South Strabane and the Trinity Area School District -- approve tax breaks to help finance the development, construction of the store and hotel could begin next year and open in 2007.
And if that falls into place, the entire complex could be complete in 2008, he said.
The Bass Pro complex could create 1,600 jobs, and also 2,000 construction jobs. The store will employ more than 300 people.
Victory Centre also is to get a $74 million development by Tanger Outlet Stores on about 122 acres, plus $50 million in infrastructure development through public and private financing, said William McGowen, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority of Washington County.
Tanger plans to build about 120 outlet stores, five family restaurants and a 105-room hotel.
Two other developers, Goldenberg Group and Praxis Resources, haven't announced plans for the remaining 204 acres in Victory Centre.
