Cabela's announces plans to open in retail complex on 44th Avenue in Grandville

Cabela’s is coming to Grandville.

Cabela’s Chief Executive Officer Tommy Millner has announced the store featuring hunting, fishing, outdoor gear, and more will open at the east end of the Rivertown Mall retail corridor on 44th Avenue in spring 2013. The 88,000-square-foot store will be a part of a retail center currently under development by CWD Real Estate Investment.

“Because of the many great customers we have in the Grandville/Grand Rapids area, we have been interested in building a store there for years,” Millner said. “Michiganders are dedicated outdoors people who live the Cabela’s lifestyle and so many of them are loyal customers through our catalogs, website and Dundee store, we wanted to reward them with a Cabela’s store of their own.”

Millner said the store will include a Boat Shop, Gun Library, Bargain Cave, and Fudge Shop and employ about 200 full- and part-time employees. Construction on the building will start this summer and will feature Cabela’s trademark style of an exterior log construction and stonework along with metal roofing and a glass storefront. The inside of the store will include conservation-themed wildlife displays, animal mounts, and a built-in aquarium.

Grandville City Manager Ken Krombeen said since the City Council already rezoned the 1.9-acre parcel on 44th Avenue for the 88,000-square-foot building back in December the project “is basically pre-approved.” He said the next step is for Cabela’s officials to apply for a building permit, which the city will review, before starting construction.

The store will be part of a 380,000-square-foot retail complex development planned on the former X-Rite property. Krombeen praised the development, saying the complex is taking shape just the way city leaders and developers had hoped since the project began in 2009. “They wanted something different than a typical retail development,” he said. “There was a lot of effort to give it a unique feel.”

The retail complex includes multiple buildings, green space, sidewalks, and bike trails. Target also plans to open a 135,000-square-foot store in the complex in October.

Krombeen said the economic impact from the new Cabela’s will benefit not only the city but area municipalities as well as the state through jobs, property taxes, and sales tax.

The Grandville store will be Cabela’s second in the state with one located in Dundee. Cabela’s officials previously began plans to bring a store to the city of Walker, including asking for an economic incentive package for about $15 million, but those talks stopped in 2010.

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Cabela's announces plans to open in retail complex on 44th Avenue in Grandville