Bass Pro Sets Opening

Bass Pro sets opening
Store is first phase in $268 million retail center
By BRANDON BABCOCK

The grand opening of Olathe’s Bass Pro Shops is planned for Nov. 9, less than 11 months away and in time for holiday shopping, said Larry Whiteley, company spokesman.
Today, dirt has been turned at the 119th Street and Renner Road site, and that’s about it.
Within a week of Olathe’s tentatively scheduled opening, the Kansas City area’s second Bass Pro could open its doors in Independence, according to Whiteley.
In Olathe, the company’s more detailed, final plans are coming together and the Planning Commission is scheduled to review those publicly for the first time Jan. 23.
It’s the first opportunity for citizens to see something beyond conceptual drawings for the $268 million, 625,000-square-foot destination retail center that was granted $55 million in economic incentives to come to the city. The center, located in by far the city’s busiest corridor, has been newly named Olathe Gateway.
Bass Pro will be the first phase.
Senior planner Sean Pendley said Thursday’s review by city staff yielded only minor revisions, and a November opening seems feasible.
“It’s certainly ambitious, but they have every intention of opening in November of this year,” he said.
Whiteley said as with all construction projects, weather will be a factor in the ultimate timeline.
Pendley said the city planning process should move quickly, but any delays there and the timing of nearby road improvements might make a difference. He expected to soon see a more detailed timeline that would clarify some of the potential roadwork issues.
North of Bass Pro, north of what will be a newly built 120th Street and east of Renner Road, the second phase of the project is getting closer to reality, but commissioners likely won’t discuss it the same night as the Bass Pro phase, as had been planned.
Pendley said the developer, Maefield Development, is asking for more time to revise plans as negotiations proceed. Preliminary plans called for eight retail buildings.
This portion of the project has been described by developers as a “festival marketplace” concept featuring clusters of one- and two-story retail buildings lining a pedestrian walkway through the middle of the site, with a strip-style retail building closer to the interstate.
If continued, Pendley said the item would likely return to the commission agenda in February.
To the west of Renner, the third and fourth phases would eventually stretch nearly a half-mile west and to the Benchmark furniture complex to the south.
This portion of the development has yet to resurface since financing was approved.
The Olathe Planning Commission meets at City Hall the second and third Mondays of each month at 7 p.m.