The Wichita City Council approved tax incentives for Cabela's to build a store in Wichita. Cabela's will now be able to charge an extra 1.2% sales tax to cover the development of the store and for a new interchange where the store will be built.
The total cost of the project is $22 million. One percent of the sales tax (expected to reach $17 million) will be used for the purchase of the building and the land. The remaining 0.2 percent will go to making the interchange at Greenwich and K-96 a full interchange.
The incentive came after the council approved Cabela's request that the area at K-96 and Greenwhich Road be made a Community Improvement District or CID.
Cabela's plans to buy 9.4 acres in the CID area and build and 80,000 square foot outdoor sporting goods store. The estimated total cost of the project is $28 million.
Several critics had said Cabela's will hurt business at the downtown Gander Mountain and Cabela's can afford to to build a store in the city without tax incentives. Some also said the CID should be used for a non blight area.
But Cabela's had long stated that without the tax incentives, it wouldn't build in Wichita. Only one council member voted against the incentives.
Those support the extra sales tax see more customer visiting the region.
“Cabela's is a visitor destination attraction just like Kansas City and the many other areas that they're in the draw visitors from across their region and within a two to three-hour drive market,” said John Rolfe, director of Go Wichita, told WSN.com.
Construction will begin on the store this summer and will open next year. Cabela's predicts between 800,000 and one million visitors will come to Wichita to visit the sporting goods store.
In Kansas, it also has a store in Kansas City open since 2002.
