A Bass Pro Shop located near Hwy 30 in Arkansas.
East Ridge officials voted unanimously Thursday to give the first $4 million of a potential $11 million-dollar incentive package to the developer of a new Bass Pro Shops and Jordan Crossing development along Interstate 75 at Exit 1.
Applause from city council members and some audience members greeted the industrial development board after one-by-one, they verbally signed off on the assistance plan guaranteeing the first $4 million for the project.
The money will come from the city of East Ridge. But under the state’s 3-year-old Border Region Retail Tourism Development District law — intended to keep major developments inside Tennessee lines — East Ridge can keep 75 percent of the state’s portion of sales tax collections generated by the Bass Pro Shops development to repay its investment in the new retail center.
The industrial development board will handle disbursement of the city assistance to the developers, Exit One LLC, as the project progresses.
Mark Mamantov, public finance lawyer with Bass, Berry and Sims PLC, worked on the city’s behalf in incentive negotiations with Exit One. During Thursday’s meeting, he said there had been some disagreement with the developers.