Cabela’s to sell Wheat Ridge site, look elsewhere for Denver-area location

Denver Business Journal

Nearly seven years after Cabela's Cabela's

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Follow this company Inc. announced plans for its first Denver-area store in Wheat Ridge, the outdoor-gear retailer said Thursday it plans to sell the site and look elsewhere.

Cabela's has been developing a smaller store format lately, and the sprawling Wheat Ridge site no longer fit its plans.

“As a company, we have shifted to our next-generation store format with an accompanying shift in real estate strategy,” Tommy Millner, CEO of the Sidney, Neb.-based chain, said in a statement. “We are sharpening our focus on serving our loyal customers and are reducing our involvement in the land development business. This change has influenced our strategic approach to the Front Range marketplace. We are looking at the Denver market in a fresh way.”

The company (NYSE: CAB) will “consider other Denver-area locations,” the statement said. It did not indicate a timetable for that process.

Cabela’s only Colorado store, in Grand Junction, opened in May 2010.

The site to be sold is at Interstate 70 and Colorado 58. Cabela’s bought the site in late 2004 for $3.5 million from Coors Brewing Co. Coors Brewing Co.

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Wheat Ridge City Manager Patrick Goff said Thursday while disappointed with the announcement, city officials are already in meetings with potential developers.

“I just got out of a meeting with a potential developer, where we set a 30 day schedule – so a plan may come together quickly,” Goff said.

One of the site anchors might be Wal-Mart, he said.

Cabela’s did do some site improvement work, including a tunnel under I-70, Goff said. That, coupled with improvements the Colorado Department of Transportation made to add a fly-over from Highway 58 to I-70, makes the land more attractive to potential developers.