Pretty explosive charges leveled by Louis Breland in court filing regarding Cabela's (Huntsville: 2015, lawsuit)

[DvlsAdvc8]

^ lol. My thoughts as well. I'd rep you but apparently I've done that too much.

[FayettevilletoHuntsville]

Cabela's wanted Madison Square Mall or Toys R Us before settling on current site near Bridge Street | AL.com

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Cabela's tried unsuccessfully to put its new outdoor superstore at two locations – one that would have revitalized Madison Square Mall and another that would have brought new retail life to north Huntsville - before settling on the site it is developing now near Bridge Street Town Centre, a Huntsville city official said this week.

Cabela's had offered a written commitment to put its first Alabama store on the Madison Square Mall site now occupied by Sears, according to city economic development director Shane Davis. When that deal didn't work out, Cabela's tried hard to put the store at the old Toys R Us site at the corner of Memorial Parkway and University Drive.

After both choices failed for different reasons, Davis said a frustrated Cabela's President and CEO Thomas Millner personally selected the current site near Bridge Street while touring sites in Huntsville and Madison on April 2.

Property owners didn't know

Davis spoke about the city's recruitment of Cabela's in the wake of a lawsuit filed in August against the owners of the Cabela's site. Developer Louis Breland alleged one of them, a former CEO of Breland's own company and Huntsville school board member named Michael Culbreath, used proprietary information to lure the Cabela's development away from a Breland-owned site. The suit also makes allegations about Huntsville's role in Cabela's ultimate location.

Davis said this week that the property owners didn't know Cabela's was coming their way until after the CEO had picked the site. The deal was the end of a recruitment Davis said began with his "cold call" to Cabela's property broker in March 2013. Davis said he recruited Cabela's only because an "outdoor superstore" ranked consistently in the Top 5 new retailers requested by city residents.

Davis said the broker came from Atlanta in April 2013 to tour Huntsville and Birmingham, which is also expected to get a Cabela's. The broker dropped a bombshell on Davis and Mayor Tommy Battle after making them sign a privacy agreement.

"He said, 'We have a signed Letter of Intent (to build) out for Madison Square Mall....,'" Davis said. "We're like, 'Are you kidding?' He said, 'No. They've had it for six months and won't do anything with it.'"

Davis said he called the mall's property managers and was told Cabela's wanted land currently occupied by Sears, because of its visibility from Research Park Boulevard. Sears is the only store at the mall that owns its site, Davis said, and the retailer wanted too much money to sell.

'What a great catalyst'

"What a great catalyst to re-do Madison Square Mall," Davis said. "It just didn't work out. Sears was just like, 'We'll sell ours for an enormous amount of money.' And I think they felt (the mall's developers) had a dying mall, and they're the kingpin. To get that thing redeveloped, somebody's going to have to buy Sears. That's why it (the mall) sits there."

Contacted Thursday, Madison Square's developers, CBL & Associates, declined to comment. "We do not comment on rumors or speculation," Sears spokesman Howard Riefs said Thursday. "Sears remains committed to the Huntsville community."

Davis said he sought new property that met Cabela's criteria: "high-traffic area, highly visible, minimum of 400,000 square feet of existing retail."

'Locked in on Toys R Us'

"They got locked in on the Toys R Us site," Davis said, because customers of nearby Costco and Home Depot would be likely Cabela's customers. "I'm telling the mayor they're going there. It's going to be phenomenal, north Huntsville, redoing the Parkway, energy on the Parkway. The energy on the Parkway is fixing to become that's the place to be."

There was one problem. Cabela CEO Millner wanted his first Alabama store to "sell everything" in the company line, including boats and all-terrain vehicles.
"We couldn't (work) it without a parking deck," Davis said. The site didn't have room to meet city parking requirements and the store's need for outdoor merchandise space.
Cabela's drew multiple site plans, including one for a two-story store, and the city studied a parking deck. But Davis said the deck would have interfered with access to the entire development from Pulaski Pike. "You were going to drive under this to get to Home Depot and Costco in the back," he said, "and it just didn't work." Cabela's agreed.

The Remington connection

Davis said the recruiting paused during the holidays, but Cabela's broker called back early in the new year. Remington's move to Huntsville had been announced, and Davis said Millner, by coincidence, is the former president of Remington.

"Now, all of a sudden, the president has his buddies saying, 'Why aren't you in Alabama?' 'Why aren't you in Huntsville?'" Davis said. "He gets really engaged and says, 'Why is this taking nine months? Find me a site.'"

By this time, Davis said Huntsville had sent Cabela's a total of 16 sites, including the one it finally chose, which Davis called "a dot on the map." In April, Cabela's president stopped to see Huntsville for himself on the way to a new store opening in Greenville, S.C.. On that pivotal tour, Millner also looked at two sites in Madison, Davis said.

Davis said Cabela's broker told him later what happened. Driving on Research Park Boulevard, Millner saw Bridge Street Town Centre and wanted a closer look. He saw the new Belk store under construction and was told the complex had more than 1 million square feet of retail.

'If they can see me'

Millner asked to see the site near Bridge Street the company had previously passed on and made several trips from the site to I-565 and back. The broker said Millner finally pointed to Bridge Street and said to his people, "If the public can figure out how to get to that, and they can see me from the interstate, they'll figure out how to get here. Take me back to the plane, and see if you can get this done here."

The details of what happened as the city sat down to "get this done" will be the subject of future AL.com reports, but Davis denied any wrongdoing. The city would have welcomed Cabela's anywhere, he said. The site's owners, he said, basically got lucky.

"It's kind of like buying raffle tickets for the Kiwanis and they're giving away a shotgun," he said. "Everybody buys a ticket and they're going to pull one. Yeah, they pulled a lucky ticket."












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[CoreLysium]

I know Shane personally. My big question is, did he know he was talking to a reporter?

Also, he would have said "all of the sudden" not "all of a sudden."

[FayettevilletoHuntsville]

Originally Posted by CoreLysium

I know Shane personally. My big question is, did he know he was talking to a reporter?

Also, he would have said "all of the sudden" not "all of a sudden."

I'm assuming he did.

And it should be "all of a sudden" "all of the sudden" is incorrect grammar:

All of what sudden? | Motivated Grammar

[CoreLysium]

Originally Posted by FayettevilletoHuntsville

And it should be "all of a sudden" "all of the sudden" is incorrect grammar:

All of what sudden? | Motivated Grammar

Well, they fixed his grammar for him then.

[SarahBellum]

Just because that's what the reporter wrote, it doesn't mean that's what was said word for word. I've been interviewed a few times and what I said vs what came out in the paper didn't always match up. Not sure if it was the reporter, the editor (back in the day when they really did edit), or the use of grammar checking software that "corrects" the text. For some reason, it's far worse here than in other places I've lived. I know a few other folks that get interviewed once or twice a year and we joke that we can't wait to get the paper to see what we said.

[raj kapoor]

Articles are so poorly written now that I have found myself reading several sources before extrapolating my own interpretation of what they were 'trying' write. (pathetic)

And this is now the rule, not the exception.

[CoreLysium]

I was quoted in the paper once, long ago. I was interviewed beforehand, however, what they printed me as saying was not something I said. Not even close. Sure, it was a reasonable thing to say. I think they matched up my name with another man-on-the-street.

My work has a policy, or did when I was hired. You never, ever, never ever ever ever, talk to the press.

[dijkstra]

Every time I have had first hand personal knowledge of something that was reported on the news or in the newspaper, the story that ran has never been an accurate factual account of what actually happened/transpired. Never, not even once. It is usually twisted to sound more sensational or slanted to sound as if someone should be investigated by the police. I watched one on the local news channels several years ago and was laughing at the end of their segment.

[Seth Parker]

I've been interviewed in TV and in the papers several times over the last couple of weeks. Most of them are just looking to slant what you say in a way that fits their agenda. All of them except one creatively edited/added/removed from the story and put quotes in my mouth.

One, I asked over the phone and emailed three times that they not include a specific piece of information due to lack of evidence to support it and that it was merely my opinion. They agreed. It still ran anyway like it was fact.