July 23, 2012
The Details Of The Pyramid And Lease Development Agreement
This agreement is 157pages but it is in searchable pdf format. Still it is formidable. I will try to highlight interesting parts. (When I cite a page number, it is the pdf page number, not the actual page number).
Description of leased premises See Exhibit A (starts at page 36) and B (starts at page 42). Exhibit B gives you a better feel for the property. Did you know that there will a “Bass Pro Boulevard”?.
Terms of the Lease (page 4) First term is 20 years with additional optional extensions of seven consecutive five year terms for a total of a possible 55 years.
Rent (page 5) Bass Pro is to pay rent equal to 2% multiplied by all gross sales except for gross sales of boats, recreational vehicles, off road vehicles and all-terrain vehicles which shall be 1% with a maximum of $250 per such boat or vehicle sold. The minimum rent shall be $880,000 the first year and $1 million per year thereafter.
Real Estate Taxes (page 15) Bass Pro basically pays no real estate taxes (property or personalty) as they get a dollar per dollar reduction of any taxes from their rent payments. I asked specifically about personalty taxes and was told that they would have to pay personalty taxes but not property taxes but I do not think this is correct per the language of the agreement.
Utilities (page 25) Bass Pro to pay for its utilities but can negotiate its own utility rates.
Landlord’s Work (Exhibit C page 44) See all the work that the City is to do on the front end for $45 million dollars.
Signage (Exhibit E page 49) This shows four big bass pro signs on the Pyramid. I am not sure if this plan has been changed since the agreement.
Landlord’s contribution (page 123) This is a $30 million dollar contribution from the City to be applied towards the costs and expenses of Bass Pro’s Work.
Amendments to Hoops deal (page 143) This section tries to get the City, Bass Pro and the Arena on the same page so that they are not competing with each other. Good luck.
Later this week I will publish the bond agreement with its interesting details.