Harlingen EDC takes new step to land Bass Pro Shops

The Harlingen Economic Development Corporation’s Board of Directors approved a proposed lease agreement between the EDC and Bass Pro Shops, moving the city one step closer to a deal that would reel in the retail giant.

In its Tuesday night meeting, the board unanimously approved the lease, the details of which the EDC would not disclose. The board also voted to inject language into the lease that would state prospective jobs figures for the development, immigration status requirements for would-be employees and to remove a previous Oct. 31 development deadline.

“This is a critical next step for us,” Bill Martin, chief executive officer of the Harlingen EDC, said Tuesday. “We’re stuck on this lease; we need to move on and we have to get over this hurdle.”

Still, there are many details the EDC needs to work through before Bass Pro signs a final contract with the city, Martin said. The EDC will now ask if Bass Pro agrees, in principal, to the terms of the lease, Martin said, in order to start negotiating with developers at the Cameron Crossing Shopping Center, the proposed site where Bass Pro would be the anchor retailer.

“The goal is to get clearance from Bass Pro to go and work out some of those agreements with the developer,” Martin said.

The final lease along with proposed changes will now have to go back to the EDC board for a final vote before going to the Harlingen City Commission for approval, Martin said. If the city approves the final lease, the EDC will then have to negotiate with developers at the proposed 89-acre, 850,000-square-foot development, he said.

Martin did not say when he expected Bass Pro to sign any lease agreement with the city.

The EDC will still need to seek approval for three separate Chapter 380 agreements, which let cities make loans of public money or grants to businesses and developers who in turn build projects within the city, Martin said. According to the initial EDC estimates when the project was announced, the EDC will have to issue roughly $28 million in sales tax revenue bonds to pay for the project’s development.