Cabela's to build new super store near Lambeau Field

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GREEN BAY - The Green Bay Packers have scored a major business for their new retail-and-entertainment complex west of Lambeau Field. It was announced today that the Cabela’s outdoor recreation chain will build a new super-store on 21 acres at Lombardi Avenue and Highway 41.

Construction will begin this fall, and the store is scheduled to open next summer with up to 200 employees. The site has 11 acres of wetlands, and the Packers have a state permit to build on three of those acres. That permit had generated controversy, after the Wisconsin Wetlands Association challenged it. The case was supposed to go to an administrative law judge, but Packers’ executive committee member John Bergstrom asked Republican Governor Scott Walker to step in last January. The GOP majority in both houses approved an exception allowing Bass Pro Shops to build a store there – but that chain pulled out, saying it would refuse to build on wetlands. Cabela’s said its new store would fit in perfectly. Among other things, it will have a mountain replica with game animals in a recreated natural habitat. And there will be a Wisconsin sportsmen’s Hall-of-Fame which features trophy mounts of animals.

It will be Cabela’s third store in Wisconsin, with the others being in Prairie du Chien and near West Bend. Packers’ president Mark Murphy says Cabela’s will be the first major tenant in what’s called the “Titletown District.” All told, the Packers own about 28 acres west of the stadium, dedicated for future business development.

Tags: wisconsin business, business, wisconsin, packers