Bass Pro Shops to Lease Memphis Pyramid

Memphis’s most famous vacant property, a 32-story glass-and-steel pyramid — once an arena that served as home court for the NBA’s Grizzlies — now has a retail occupant. Bass Pro Shops (Springfield, Mo.) will lease the space and open its largest outdoor sporting goods store in April or May 2015.

Often criticized for its odd design and construction problems, the Pyramid opened in 1991 and was shut down in 2007. Until now, the city, which owns the facility, was unable to find a use or a tenant for the space.

The site will be called Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid. The 535,000-square-foot space will feature shooting and archery ranges, a bowling alley, a 100-room hotel designed to look like hunting cabins and an observation deck patterned after the Grand Canyon skywalk. The store will also feature 1800 fish in various aquariums, a “waterfowling heritage center,” and even pools of live alligators, according to the New York Times. Bass Pro Shops says the store will employ 600 staff members.