Bass Pro Shops Sidney Properties Officially Up for Auction

SIDNEY--Bass Pro Shops based in Springfield, MO Announced last week that they would be putting two Sidney properties up for auction online February 10-12, 1 and 2 Cabela Drive. 1 Cabela Drive is listed as being 297,445 sq. ft. in size, while 2 Cabela Drive is listed as 160,000 sq. ft. Both properties are listed together, and have a starting bid of $750,000. The online auction is being conducted by Ten X, and according to their website, the first bid secured meets the reserve amount of $750,000.

For years, 1 and 2 Cabela Drive served as the world headquarters for Cabela's until the official sale of the company to Bass Pro Shops for $5.5 billion in September 2017. Bass Pro then started the process of transferring Cabela's corporate headquarters to Springfield, MO, where Bass Pro Shops has its corporate headquarters. A multi-year process of transferring the employees to Missouri was underway while Bass Pro looked for a suitable tenant for the property, but none was located despite offering the property for a $ 1-a-year lease, and the buildings stayed largely vacant, except for a few Cabela's workers that mostly worked in IT to keep systems running. The buildings sit on a campus of 34.33 acres and include warehouse and data center space.

A smaller Cabela's building located in North Platte will also be auctioned by Ten X, and the bidding for that property starts at $225,000. Both the Sidney location and the North Platte location are being marketed as "top-of-class office space", and the seller is touting the advantages of the location, including the Sidney area's educated workforce and access to Denver and Cheyenne.

Cabela's founded in Sidney in 1961, had grown to nearly 2,000 employees in the Sidney location before the sale in 2017. The Cabela's retail flagship store in Sidney still operates and is a major draw of tourists and vacationers in the area.

The two corporate buildings, long offered by Bass Pro Shops for a $1 per year lease, stand adjacent to the original Cabela's retail store. The Sidney area did have a large number of former Cabela's workers leave the area after the sale, causing disruption in the local economy and real estate market, but Sidney methodically bounced back, with new businesses filling the holes left behind and the real estate market recovering as the years progressed.

Many Sidney and Cheyenne County residents took to social media after the announcement of the auction, airing suggestions of what could take over the prime office space running along Route 80.

"An entertainment complex would be great--it would be the only thing like it from here to Kearney", wrote one resident. "A local trade school or college would work well," wrote another. An idea that had been floated years ago came back up, namely moving a Nebraska State Service or major department out to the campus, namely the Nebraska Games & Parks Commission.

However, despite the interesting suggestions and hopes of something unique landing here in Sidney, the most likely outcome will be office space, as that is what the building is designed for, and it would seem the preferred use that wouldn't require extensive, and expensive, renovations.

The Sun-Telegraph spoke with Sidney City Manager David Scott about the announcement, and he said that although city officials had long anticipated this announcement, they only had about an hour of advanced warning before the property was listed on the auction site.

On social media, the topic of property taxes being paid by Bass Pro became an item of concern, as some residents pointed out that the city and county may be facing a big deficit without payments coming in from Bass Pro. However, City Manager Scott said, "I can't answer if property taxes (on the property) will increase or decrease. That's up to the County Assessor."

On the subject of property taxes on the property, Scott explained "Currently, Cabela's/Bass Pro holds a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) bond, and now the county collects all property taxes and distributes them to the other taxing entities. Scott said that the City of Sidney receives two checks from the county, one for the property taxes allocated to the city and the other for taxes allocated to any TIF bonds. The city then distributes the TIF amounts to the appropriate bondholders. In the case of the former Cabela's property, the bondholder is Cabela's/Bass Pro. After the buildings are sold the property taxes allocated to the TIF bond will still go to the entity that took out the bond, Cabela's/Bass Pro."

When asked if he was expecting a property tax increase or decrease once the building was sold and had new ownership, Scott said, "I would speculate that if the buildings sell for less than they are currently assessed at the assessed value will decrease next year. This means a slight property tax decrease for all taxing entities for building number one. Since most of the property tax for building number two goes back to Cabela's/Bass Pro for the TIF bond, there really is no decrease in property tax revenue to the taxing entities because we aren't getting any of it now."

When asked if he or other city officials had received any calls or communication concerning the buildings, Scott said, "We've had a few calls and inquiries about the buildings, but none of them want to be known at this time.

All the community can do now is to watch and wait until the results of the February 10-12 auction are known. After the auction and the identity of the buyer is disclosed, information about the use of the property and other details should start to become available. However, that information may not come out as quickly as many would like. The County of Cheyenne and the City of Sidney have still not been able to release the name of the company that purchased North Elementary School via online auction in December. Speaking with both county workers and city workers about this issue, both said it was not unusual for there to be a delay in finding out exactly who or what entity purchased a property. As soon as we find out the identity of the buyer of North Elementary, the Sun-Telegraph will report that information to its readers, and hopefully any initial planned use the new owners have for the property. At this point, all we know is the buyers are a group from Missouri.

With a major property already purchased, and a major Sidney property on the auction block, 2025 is starting off with much interest in local business real estate.