Greenville, still luring

By Cindy Landrum  

MARCH 23, 2010 7:43 a.m. (0)

Some Greenville legislators are taking one more shot to revive a bill that would provide tax incentives for “extraordinary” retail projects and perhaps lure Bass Pro Shops to Greenville County.

Rep. Karl Allen, D-Greenville, has asked the House to reconsider the bill which would have given accommodations and sales tax breaks for up to 20 years for retail stores that does $2 million in sales taxes, attracts at least two million visitors a year, has a capital investment of at least $50 million and is located within two miles of an interstate highway.

The bill was defeated 46 to 37 earlier this month.

The bill does not name a specific project or retailer, but area leaders say it is designed to help bring Bass Pro Shops to Greenville County. Last year there was talk about Bass Pro Shops and a hotel anchoring a proposed development near Greer.

In addition, Rob Jacoby, the chief operating officer of Menin Development which is developing Magnolia Place Town Center on Woodruff Road, said his company is monitoring the progress of the bill. He said such an incentive would be good for South Carolina.

Bass Pro Shops spokesman Larry Whiteley wouldn’t say whether the company is considering Greenville for a new store.

“No decision has been made that I know of,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that it won’t happen.”

Bass Pro Shops has 50 stores in 26 states and Canada.

The average store is 170,000 square feet, but there are stores as big as 400,000 square feet.

More than 100 million people shopped in a Bass Pro Shops store in 2009 and the company mailed out 150 million catalogs and circulars.

On average, a Bass Pro Shops store gets around 3 million customers a year.

Whiteley said Bass Pro Shops has no plans to open new stores in 2010.

He said it takes about 12 months to build a store because they are so big.

The General Assembly passed a similar bill last year that required retailers to get approval from the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism before it could get the sales tax break.

This year’s version of the bill gets rid of that provision.

Under the bill, “extraordinary” retailers would be allowed to use 75 percent of the sales tax generated in their store over 20 years to pay for infrastructure such as buildings, site preparation, parking and roadways.

Comments

Add New

Leave a Comment
Comments are moderated and may not be posted immediately.
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."