Academy Sports and Outdoors moves closer to construction of Columbus store

Academy Sports and Outdoors has cleared another major hurdle for building a new store on Whittlesey Boulevard in Columbus, but the city has yet to receive detailed construction plans laying out the project and how it will unfold in the coming months.

The Katy, Texas-based retailer is targeting roughly 16 acres of land at 7221 Whittlesey Blvd., inside Columbus Park Crossing, for a 64,400-square-foot store. A couple of smaller outparcel buildings are also planned on the site, with those including convenience-type tenants such as an eyeglass store, restaurants and other small retailers.

Property owner North Highland Assembly of God Inc., which has a church adjacent to the land, received approval from Columbus Council on Feb. 14 to rezone 13.46 acres on the site from “single-family residential” to “general commercial,” essentially setting up the project following the sale of the land to Hammerford Development out of Houston, Texas.

“At this time, I have not received any plans for that site,” Farhad Alifarhani, an engineer with the City of Columbus, said Friday. “I have had some communication with engineers representing them, but nothing officially has been submitted.”

The land that is being developed — packaged with just over two more acres for a total of about 16 acres — has been on the market for some time, with an asking price of $3.5 million.

North Highland, which purchased about 40 acres of land in the area in the late 1970s and relocated to its Moon Road church there in 1984, has sold off a piece of it before. City tax records show it sold 8.5 acres to Concordia Woodlawn Investors for just over $3.2 million in 2006. The property at 7041 Whittlesey Blvd. eventually ended up in the hands of the Lenora Johnson Corp., becoming the home of a Kia auto dealership.

Alifarhani said that once he receives site plans and other documents and applications from Academy Sports and Outdoors’ developer, a review will begin. That will include making sure the project is in compliance with city and state buffer ordinances, including any streams moving through the area, and that storm water and erosion issues are addressed. City traffic engineers will review plans to address the additional traffic generated by the retailer’s customers.

The property rezoning package, which first appeared before the Columbus Planning Advisory Commission in December, included preliminary plans also showing a 1.45-acre outparcel on the land with an 11,600-square-foot building and 69 parking spaces. A second outparcel, closer to a Homewood Suites hotel, is just over an acre, but there was no structure drawn on the plans.

Columbus attorney George Mize, who represented North Highland and its pastor in the rezoning, said in December that he expected the rezoning to be completed by mid-February.

“Once it’s rezoned, they’re going to have to acquire the property, so give it another 30 days. I would think you’re looking at maybe spring of 2018,” the lawyer said of the possible timeline for Academy Sports opening its doors in Columbus. That would include construction over nine to 12 months.

Privately owned Academy Sports and Outdoors is a recreation and outdoors retailer that sells a variety of merchandise at what it calls “every day low prices.” That includes leisure items such as barbecue grills, athlete apparel and footwear, hunting, fishing and camping gear. Brands that it carries include Nike, Under Armour, Adidas, YETI and Columbia.

Academy Sports operates more than 225 stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. The retailer’s nearest location is about 40 minutes away in Auburn, Ala., not far from the Tiger Town development in Opelika.

This story was originally published February 24, 2017 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Academy Sports and Outdoors moves closer to construction of Columbus store."