And the Wait Continues

As another month passes we still have no definitive answer from Bass Pro on the purchase of the Pyramid. I now know how the worm on the hook feels. If Bass wants this deal they need to pony up, and now. This song and dance has gone on too long. The City has been negotiating with Bass Pro for nearly two years. Clearly with the state of the economy a business must be even more careful with each move it makes, but COME ON!

Recently Pastor Gary Faulkner of Cummings Street Missionary Baptist Church has made an offer of $12 million for the $65 million dollar facility. I'm not sure if this is a genuine offer or a way of drumming up some free press, but it doesn’t matter the offer is too little and we need commercial development in that area that will create jobs and a tax base.

Now I know Robert Lipscomb, the Mayor’s right-hand man, can be a brilliant strategist when it comes to putting together some complex deals and I can only hope he has a few aces up his sleeve.

The importance of properly developing this site can not be overlooked. It is one of the first thing people see as they cross Hernando de Soto Bridge from West Memphis, Arkansas. It is prominent in any picture of the Memphis riverfront skyline and it’s key to the redevelopment of the Downtown Pinch District.

The catch of Bass Pro Shop would be great for Memphis, but any good fisherman will tell you, sometimes when the fish aren’t biting you need to either change your bait or move to a better site.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you ask me, and you didn't, we should change bate. Tear down the pyramid and build a classy hotel. We need more hotel space and it would create the type of jobs that most Memphians are skilled at, labor and we could tax the crap out of it.

Anonymous said...

Cast my vote for bring the Pyramid down. It has passed its prime. I'm not going to say what should go up, but it should come down.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE THE PYRAMID. WHATS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE. THE PYRAMID IS A KNOWN SYMBOL FOR MEMPHIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PEOPLE ALWAYS WANT THE NEXT NEW THING. MEMPHIS STATE SAID THEY WOULD NEVER LEAVE THE PYRAMID BUT DID JUST THAT WHEN THERE WAS SOMETHING NEW.

KEEP THE PYRAMID GET RID OF HERENTON.

Anonymous said...

The Pyramid would be best used as part of the convention center. Why build an addition to the convention center at great cost with the usual cost overuns and delays, when the Pryramid is totally usuable and available?

Bass Pro is a real joke and has been stringing our "leaders" along for years.

I don't like the idea of a church, unless they pay taxes.

Anonymous said...

You said it Mr. Milton. A church would be a bad idea. We've got 50,000 of them now and still one of the highest crime rates in the country.

Anonymous said...

I think Mayor Herenton is correct about raze the Pyramid and using that 30 acres of prime land for something else.

Casinos in Memphis would have been a dream come true. Look at Tunica and all the growth down there. Well that won't happen now. The Casinos would fight to keep Memphis from being able to build Casinos because they have invested so much in Tunica. Once again we missed out.

Anonymous said...

You can add my vote to razing the building. The land is too valuable to just be sitting there.

Bass Pro is not going to "bite." We should move on.

Anonymous said...

Has everyone voted? Today, Saturday, August 2 is the last day for early voting,

Thursday, August 7 is Election Day!

Anonymous said...

It ain't doing a dam thing for memphis we need to pull the whole thing down.