Leadership views...Tom Blaha

Toledo Business Journal recently interviewed Tom Blaha, executive director of the Wood County Economic Development Commission. He shared the following thoughts.

Toledo Business Journal: Bass Pro recently completed an estimated $50 million deal for a site in Wood County. Can you explain what this investment includes?

Tom Blaha: It includes 225+/- acres of land, which is already appropriately zoned by the City of Rossford and served with appropriate utilities. It is also part of a joint economic development zone with the City of Toledo as a result of an agreement signed in about 1989. In the agreement, the City of Rossford promised to share a set percentage of the payroll tax it collects there with the City of Toledo ad infinitum in return for the right to serve it with Toledo water at 150% markup. This is turning out to be a good deal for everybody. It is proof that some projects can be win-win, and if handled professionally and regionally, there are no losers.

Back to your original question, the investment by Bass Pro also includes construction of a 150,000 to 180,000 square foot Outdoor World facility. This would, of course, require and include appropriate parking, lighting, and internal circulation. Being the public / private partnership that we are, the Wood County Economic Development Commission (WCEDC) hopes that many of our members will be chosen on their merits to provide their services to Bass Pro as it constructs its complex. Internally, it will also include significant taxidermy and aquarium exhibits and an outdoor themed restaurant.

TBJ: Did Bass Pro consider other sites for this investment, and can you share the background of this large deal?

TB: The foresight, perseverance, and patience that went into this project are easily overlooked in the euphoria over an announcement. This project was initiated in 1995 by representatives of the landowners who had the vision to see the significance of the location and convinced the landowners to stick together and market the large assemblage for a use that would befit its regional significance. The then-young WCEDC office, as now, a publicprivate partnership, was approached by the private sector realtor [Brian McMahon] who had already been excoriated in the press for suggesting that the strategic location of this site warranted a destination facility, "the magnitude of a Disney."

He approached us to assist his private sector real estate motives by packaging the locational attributes of the site and blending them with the public benefit (employment and attraction of outside tourism dollars) that would be realized by landing such a destination facility. He had already done his homework and told me the company he was targeting was Bass Pro. Being an outdoor sportsman myself, I had heard of the brand, but hadn't really thought of it as an economic development target.

At that time, its only facility was in Springfield, Missouri. Together we called on the mayor and city administrator of the City of Rossford, who were also very visionary in having annexed this huge acreage into their city limits. At that point the Wood County, Ohio Bass Pro Team was born. Knowing that County Commissioner Bob Latta shared my interest in outdoor sports, I apprised him of the initiative and he became a key member of the team, helping us identify various segments of State government (including then Governor Voinovich) who shared our interest and could add their weight behind our sales effort.

This is the stage where vision and foresight transitioned to perseverance. Latta carried his enthusiasm for this project with him to Columbus when he became a state senator shortly after that.

In early 1997, a Wood County / Rossford delegation, which included myself, Commissioner Carter, Mayor Zuchowski, and Vince Langevin, the city administrator, visited Bass Pro's top corporate executives at its headquarters in Springfield, Missouri.

We learned that there were some stumbling blocks at the state level providing disincentives for Bass Pro to expand further into Ohio. Senator Latta began a long, hard journey towards convincing his fellow legislators as well as the state's executive branch that such a store really represented economic development.

During those years, Senator Latta became Representative Latta, Rossford got a new Mayor, Bill Verbosky, and a new administrator, Ed Ciecka, and we paid another visit to Springfield to pitch our location, which Brian McMahon had continued to keep intact, successfully urging the landowners not to sell off the prime frontage to truck stops, burger barns, etc. It was 2003 by this time, and Bass Pro was opening up new stores all around the south and Midwest.

In early 2004, we knew things were getting a little more serious, as those of us working directly with the transaction were asked by Bass Pro to sign a confidentiality agreement, which we did. The CEO and COO of Bass Pro accepted our invitation to come to Columbus to meet with the Governor (now Bob Taft) and officials of the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD). There were some false starts there, which I needn't go into, and the project went into dormancy for over a year.