Bass Pro Shops opening in St. Johns County

[tufsu1]

the one in Tallahassee is going into a defunct outdoor store that was built at Falls Chase, not to mention there is no interstate exposure for that one. I am sure Leon County is giving out some pretty hefty incentives.

bass was waiting on the planned DeVoe Moore shopping center @ I-10 & US 90....but decided that wasn't happening anytime soon...and instead are going about 3 miles in on the newly widened US 90

[thelakelander]

The new Bass Pro would be in the middle of the circle formed by the 9B extension, a re-routed Race Track Road, and I-95.  You can see the lake just north of the I-95 southbound rest area. I wonder if road construction to access the site is a part of the incentive package?

[videojon]

Good to hear.

[copperfiend]

I'm trying to picture this location. I thought 9B was Duval?

[tufsu1]

as has been posted in another thread, the location appears to be off Race Track Road west of I-95....near where the 9B extension would come through...I wonder who will be paying for the road construction.

[thelakelander]

I know who won't.....Bass Pro.

[copperfiend]

Thanks for clarifying. Didn't see the other thread.

[Ocklawaha]

Most of the Planned Unite Developments or PUD'S in St. Johns come with healthy CDD fees. So yes it's suburban but unlike other places you pay the piper to build down here. Some single family homes in Nocatee or WGV are paying $3K a year in 'Community Development District' taxes. Guess if your going to have sprawl, this is the right way to do it. PAY IT FORWARD. So Bass Pro might not pay, but we will, which is fine with me if we can keep it desirable and friendly.

[Tacachale]

And as was posted in the other thread, there appear to be major incentives for Bass Pro, negating whatever the county would have gotten out of the deal.

[Charles Hunter]

Can a Moderator, or someone, smoosh the two Bass Pro threads together?

[thelakelander]

The two Bass Pro topics have been merged.

[thelakelander]

Btw, Ock, your CDD fees aren't covering the cost of major road construction and maintenance, in the form of a SR 9B extension to Race Track Road.

[Clem1029]

Question for those of you that have more expertise in this sort of thing - beyond just the basic 9B infrastructure question, what sort of impact does a Bass Pro coming in have on real estate in the nearby areas (Bartram Park, Bartram Springs, Durbin, and even JCP to some degree)? With as big of a deal as these stores seem to be, this can't be the only chip to drop for the area, right? My expectation is that this will anchor another set of shopping developments along that end of Racetrack. As such, I'd see two possible scenarios playing out:

1) The buildout (infrastructure and shopping areas) make that area an absolute pain to live in, depressing property values a bit, making attempting to sell in this market even more difficult.

2) Finally getting some of the originally planned commercial development on that section of Racetrack brings some money back into the area, improving the desirability of living in that area.

Abstractly, I can make an argument going both ways, but I'm curious as to what the experts thing the larger effect of Bass Pro on the area will be.

[tufsu1]

well there are already plans for retail along Race Track at I-95....I think the key question will be how quickly 9B is extended into the area and Race Track is 4 laned....without those improvements, this area will be a traffic mess and that will hurt residential desirability.

[thelakelander]

Imo, the extension of 9B, which could include an interchange with I-95 and connections with Race Track Road & Nocatee Parkway will have a high impact on commercial development regardless of whether Bass Pro comes or not.  To me, the allure of landing a Bass Pro, maybe the push St. Johns needs to put itself into a little extra debt to move forward with funding infrastructure improvements, such as the widening of Race Track Road and the SR 9B extension.  If St. Johns were smart, they'd capitalize on it by packing as much mixed use density in that node (the dry area surrounded by Race Track Road, I-95 and Julington Creek) as possible. 

At buildout, auto oriented traffic will be a mess but if it's designed to be multimodal friendly, it could be a small center of activity where those living in the vicinity don't need to drive to access the various uses in the immediate area.  With that in mind, the mix of uses and layout could go a long way to increasing or hurting residential desirability.