Status of Bass Pro Shops at LakePoint a question mark
The fate of a Bass Pro Shop at the LakePoint Sporting Community and Town Center in Bartow County is still up in the air.
Neal Freeman, one of the principals with LakePoint, said the construction delay is likely due to the company’s plans to buy the Cabela’s chain, which has a mega-store a few miles away in Acworth.
“They have partnered with Goldman Sachs to make a play at buying the entire Cabela’s organization,” Freeman said. “Because of Cabela’s proximity to LakePoint, it’s affecting how they might develop at LakePoint.”
Bass Pro purchased land at LakePoint in December 2012. The company paid $1.4 million for the site, which sits between the eight baseball fields on the South campus and Interstate 75.
Freeman said a representative from the real estate division of Bass Pro was on the LakePoint campus earlier this summer.
“If they buy Cabela’s, logic would say they would convert that to a Bass Pro store and then the land they own at LakePoint would be repurposed for some other Bass Pro purpose,” Freeman said.
“I talked to them last week and they definitely want to have a presence at LakePoint,” he added.
The Bass Pro Shops Group had little to add this week about its plans for the site.
“This store is currently in preliminary development,” communication manager Katie Mitchell said via email.
Freeman said the Bass Pro area of the LakePoint campus is not ready for imminent development.
LakePoint Station, an entertainment venue on Ga. 293 in Emerson, is scheduled to open Aug. 26. It includes an indoor rock- climbing wall, arcades, 45 holes of mini-golf, a laser maze, party rooms, and pizza and yogurt shops.
LakePoint Lagoon, a water park, is next in line. Freeman said he hopes to have it ready in time for summer 2017.
The Terminus Wake Park, which was one of the first venues to open at LakePoint two years ago, and the Rally beach volleyball area are considered part of LakePoint Lagoon.
“We’re going to add a water slide park,” Freeman said.
The slides will come off the side of a natural hill on the U.S. 41 side of the area and take thrill-seekers down to the wakeboard park.
Freeman said he expects to have a permit to build a bridge crossing a CSX rail line within the next two months, providing access to the north end of the LakePoint development. Junior baseball and softball fields will be built there.
“We’re still tracking a fall of 2018 activities on the North campus,” Freeman said.
Ellen Archer, executive director of the Cartersville- Bartow County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she is eager to see the most recent hotel/motel tax collections. This is the first summer that two hotels, a Sleep Inn and a Hampton Inn & Suites, have been open at LakePoint.