Bass Pro Shops coming to Copper Ridge retail development ...

February 22, 2012 4:19 PM

Bass Pro Shops will build a 117,000-square-foot store at Copper Ridge at Northgate in northern Colorado Springs, the first anchor to announce it?s coming to the planned 200-acre retail complex.

Copper Ridge developer Gary Erickson said Wednesday that Bass will break ground in April and expects to open in summer 2013. Copper Ridge, according to Erickson?s latest plan, is envisioned as a 2 million-square-foot retail center, southeast of Interstate 25 and Northgate Boulevard.

In addition to Bass Pro Shops, Erickson disclosed for the first time that a hotel and resort will be part of the project. The Colorado Grand Resort & Hotel, as it?s being called, will feature a 30,000-square-foot, indoor-outdoor water park. The resort ? with what Erickson described as a ?log and rock d?cor? and family-sized, themed suites ? will open in 2014, he said.

The resort will have its own developer, whom Erickson declined to identify until a formal announcement is made, possibly in the next week. He also declined to disclose the number of rooms at the hotel.

In the more immediate future, Erickson said snagging Bass gives momentum to Copper Ridge. Some experts in the commercial real estate industry had questioned whether the complex would ever get off the ground. With news of Bass? commitment, Erickson said other retailers with whom he?s been talking are showing renewed interest.

?I guess we?re kind of proving our point, at this point,? Erickson said of Copper Ridge?s potential.

Bass Pro Shops would be built west of the FedEx campus at Voyager Parkway and Northgate Boulevard.

?They?re the best at their game,? Erickson said of Bass. ?They?re the No. 1 destination retailer that we could have gotten at Copper Ridge. We couldn?t have done better. We?re just completely thrilled that they?ve picked our site.?

Bass, based in Springfield, Mo., operates nearly 60 stores in 26 states and Canada. Despite its name, Bass offers much more than fishing gear; the outdoors retailer specializes in hunting, camping, hiking and boating equipment and apparel, electronics, archery and outdoor cooking, among other items.

The Colorado Springs store will feature a gift and nature center, a boat showroom and Bass? Uncle Buck?s Fishbowl and Grill ? a 15,000-square-foot nautical-themed area that combines dining with a 12-lane bowling alley.

Bass says its stores attract more than 112 million visitors annually; the retailer has one other Colorado store, which opened in Denver in November 2005.

?We are very excited to bring Bass Pro Shops to Colorado Springs and be part of this major development,? Johnny Morris, Bass? founder, said in a statement. ?The area?s long history of great fishing and hunting traditions along with this highly visible and accessible location make it the perfect place to allow us to better serve our many customers and all the outdoor enthusiasts that visit and live in this beautiful part of the country.??

When Erickson and a partner announced plans for Copper Ridge in late 2009, they said it would include so-called destination retailers and higher-end stores.

Their goal, working in conjunction with Colorado Springs city staffers, was to create a retail environment to dissuade Pikes Peak region shoppers from driving to Park Meadows mall and other popular retail centers areas in the Denver area. Keeping shoppers here would stem the ?leakage? of sales tax dollars to the north, Erickson and city staffers have said.

The project?s design has been revamped over the last two years, Erickson said Wednesday, and a Park Meadows architect was brought in to give Copper ridge a new look and feel.

The project still calls for an enclosed mall and an open-air lifestyle center, along with big-box stores, so-called junior anchors, restaurants and smaller shops. But Copper Ridge also now envisions a plaza area for shoppers, a 12-screen movie theater complex and 246 residences, which Erickson said will be built as lofts on the upper floors of retail buildings.

The Copper Ridge property was designated as an urban renewal site in May 2010 by the Colorado Springs City Council ? a controversial decision because the suburbanlike, grassy area lacked rundown buildings and other decaying conditions that are typical of urban renewal projects.

As part of the urban renewal designation, the City Council and Erickson agreed that future property and sales tax generated by Copper Ridge would be earmarked to complete the final northerly leg of Powers Boulevard, which currently ends at Colorado 83. The extension of Powers would run through the heart of Copper Ridge and connect to I-25.

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Contact Rich Laden: 636-0228 Twitter @richladen

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Source: http://www.gazette.com/articles/copper-133967-ridge-shops.html

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