Post-Tribune staff report
A meeting in Indianapolis this morning could determine whether Hammond gets a Cabela’s superstore.
The state’s Board of Finance will decide whether the proposed Cabela’s development on the former Woodmar Country Club land qualifies for sales tax increment financing — a rarely used economic incentive in Indiana, one Gov. Mitch Daniels has been cool toward.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. will present the city’s case to the state board, but he didn’t sound optimistic Tuesday.
“The deal is hanging by a thread now,” he said, “and Gov. Daniels has the scissors.”
Nebraska-based Cabela’s is known for its “destination” stores, filled not just with hunting and outdoor gear but also with museum-quality displays.
Daniels has said previously he hopes Cabela’s builds in Hammond but that he doesn’t favor using sales tax increment financing, which would devote most of the store’s sales tax revenue to pay off bonds for public improvements.
“It’s not a tool that we would use except in very unusual or rare circumstances,” Daniels spokeswoman Jane Jankowski said earlier this month.
A Cabela’s in Hammond would fit that qualification, McDermott said, as Cabela’s stores typically bring in other businesses.
“We’re creating a business that will generate $100 million in sales a year,” he said. “How is that a bad deal for the state?”
The Indiana Economic Development Corp., which will make a recommendation to the State Board of Finance, isn’t disclosing what it will say.
But even if sales tax financing isn’t approved, IEDC spokesman Weston Sedgwick said, there are other economic incentives the state can offer.
Cabela’s spokesman James Powell said sales tax financing has been used in all of Cabela’s other major developments.
What happens if Indiana says no to that proposal?
“I would not say it’s a deal-killer,” Powell said, “but it becomes a stumbling block. ... It would cause us to step back and re-evaluate.”
Dave Ryan, executive director of the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce for Hammond and East Chicago, supports the city’s proposal for Cabela’s.
He believes it’s the type of project sales tax increment financing was made for.
“It’d be a great thing for Hammond and the area,” Ryan said of Cabela’s. “It would spur development there (on Indianapolis Boulevard) and on Kennedy Avenue.”