Bass Pro Shops Eyes Mid-October Opening At Sayreville’s Riverton
Crews are preparing for occupancy inspections as work continues on landscaping, a boat-storage area and an indoor bowling alley.
SAYREVILLE, NJ — Bass Pro Shops is targeting a mid-October opening at the Riverton development as crews complete final site improvements and prepare the building for occupancy inspections.
Officials provided the update during the Sept. 10 meeting of the Sayreville Economic Redevelopment Agency, commonly known as SERA.
The store is expected to open before Thanksgiving, according to SERA Executive Director Himanshu Sha. An exact opening date has not been announced.
Bass Pro Shops Aims For A Fall Opening
SERA Chairman and Councilman John Zebrowski asked officials whether Bass Pro Shops was expected to open in late September or early October.
Sha said conversations surrounding the project point to a mid-October opening.
“From all discussion I had, they definitely wants to open before… Thanksgiving, so it will be open, but it looks like middle of October,” Sha said.
Work is also continuing inside the store, including the installation of an indoor bowling alley.
Assistant Executive Director Zachariah Schlichte confirmed that SERA is tracking a fall opening for Bass Pro Shops. The nearby QuickChek is expected to follow shortly afterward.
Crews Prepare For Occupancy Inspections
Justin Cornell, an engineer with CME Associates, told commissioners that the Bass Pro Shops property is moving into the final stages of site preparation.
“This month, they’re ramping up for their certificate of occupancy inspection,” Cornell said.
A certificate of occupancy is generally required before a new building can open for public use.
According to Cornell, contractors have completed the final paving and striping for the Bass Pro Shops parking lot and Riverton Boulevard.
Other work underway or recently completed includes:
- Installing landscaping around the property
- Grading an area planned for boat storage
- Completing the review and approval of the site’s pump station
- Finishing preliminary site work at the adjacent QuickChek property
The improvements are part of the continuing development of Riverton, the large mixed-use project along the Raritan River in Sayreville.
How The Riverton Financing Will Work
SERA is also moving forward with its first round of Redevelopment Area Bonds connected to Riverton.
Agency Attorney Michael Baker said the financing process has taken approximately two years to reach this point.
Baker said the bond closing will “set the foundation for the next 10 years of financing for the project, all of which to be paid for by the project, not by the residents of Sayreville.”
The New Jersey Local Finance Board previously authorized SERA to issue up to $180 million in bonds for the Riverton project. However, that does not mean the agency is borrowing the entire amount at once.
Instead, Sha said the bonds are expected to be issued in smaller rounds tied to specific properties as Riverton is built over the next 10 to 15 years.
The first bond issue is expected to total between $1 million and $1.3 million. It will be tied specifically to revenue generated by the Bass Pro Shops property.
Sha said the initial bond issue had previously been expected to total approximately $4 million. The financing plan was later adjusted so that each bond issue could be connected to revenue from a particular portion of the development.
Future rounds of financing are expected as additional retail properties and residential phases move forward.
Under the structure described by SERA officials, revenue generated by each phase of the Riverton development would be used to support the financing connected to that phase.
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