Littleton city leaders are weighing whether to hand sporting goods retailer Scheels a sales tax break stretching three decades in exchange for building what would be Colorado's largest store of its kind at the Mineral Place development in the south part of town. The North Dakota-based chain is under contract for 14.4 acres at 700 W. Mineral Ave., where it hopes to build a 300,000-square-foot store spanning two levels — a project city staff have described as a highly desirable retail destination that produces high sales volume, significant sales tax revenue and hundreds of jobs at each location.
Conflicting Accounts of Where the Deal Stands
Accounts of just how far along the incentive package is differ. According to The Denver Post, Littleton is still considering the 30-year incentive, with city leaders yet to vote on whether to provide tax breaks for the project. Bizjournals.com, however, reports that Littleton has already approved the 30-year incentive package to win the metro area's first Scheels. The two outlets do not agree on whether the deal has cleared its final hurdle, and no primary city document confirming a final vote was available.
What is clear is the scale of the ask. Littleton would give Scheels 54.67% of the store's sales tax revenue over 30 years, while keeping 40% of that revenue for the city until the arrangement expires, per the Post's reporting. A separate slice — 5.33% of the store's sales tax — would flow to Republic Investment Group until it collects $25 million, money city documents say is intended to reimburse the developer for land and improvement costs.
Why Littleton Says the Risk Is Low
City documents obtained by the Post state that the agreement poses no risk to the city because no upfront funds are being handed to the applicant — the payments would only materialize as sales tax revenue is actually generated. Littleton's own paperwork also frames the competition bluntly, noting that new Scheels locations are coveted and competitive and often push municipalities to bid against each other with incentive packages, according to the same report.
The land under the proposed store carries its own complicated backstory. Developer Grant Nelson, who owns Republic Investment Group, bought the site for $50 million in December 2024, according to the Post, on land that once held a 680,000-square-foot office complex. He has since resold portions of it — $5.8 million worth to Costco, which has committed to the Mineral Place site, and another chunk to an apartment developer for $17.1 million. Republic Investment Group is developing the broader Mineral Place project, a retail and apartment development spanning 68 acres.
What Each Side Would Build
Under the terms described by the Post, Republic Investment Group would give Scheels 14.36 acres and would be responsible for building the store's parking lot and landscaping, while Scheels itself would construct its own building. The land and improvements are estimated to cost roughly $20 million and are not entirely covered by the development's current bonding, meaning Republic Investment Group will need to reissue development bonds when it is first able to in 2029.
The financial upside city staff are banking on is substantial. The proposed store is projected to cost at least $100 million to build and generate $135 million in revenue in its first full year, climbing to $200 million in revenue by year 10, according to the Post's reporting — figures that bizjournals.com also cites in describing the store as anticipated to generate over $135 million in revenue and become the largest Scheels location in Colorado. If incentives are approved, Scheels expects to begin construction in the first quarter of 2027 and open the Littleton store in early 2029.
How Littleton's Offer Compares
Littleton would hardly be the first Colorado city to dangle incentives for a Scheels. Colorado Springs' City Council was scheduled to consider creation of a funding tool authorizing a $16.2 million tax incentive for an $84 million Scheels store, a deal the Gazette reported was projected to create 545 permanent jobs and 916 temporary construction jobs, along with $53 million in net new city tax revenue over 25 years. That Colorado Springs store, along with one in Johnstown, gives Scheels an existing Colorado presence — the Colorado Springs location features a 65-foot indoor Ferris wheel and a 16,000-square-foot saltwater aquarium, according to the Gazette's coverage of the incentive fight.
Other cities outside Colorado have taken similar routes. In Oklahoma City, the council approved an $8 million incentive for a $100 million Scheels store set to open in spring 2028, according to the Journal Record, structured as a performance-based deal paying up to $854,000 annually for 10 years if the store hits at least $100 million in annual sales. City officials there projected the 300,000-square-foot store would draw 2.5 million visitors a year from a 250-mile radius and still net the city about $2.1 million in new annual revenue after incentive payments. Tulsa's City Council unanimously approved a smaller sales-tax rebate in 2022, with Scheels projecting $100 million in annual sales and more than 400 new jobs, according to OKC Fox.
A Fast-Growing, Employee-Owned Chain
Scheels currently operates 35 stores across 16 states, a footprint it expanded last month with the opening of its second Texas location in Cedar Park on Aug. 29. That store onboarded more than 500 associates, including 100 full-time and 350 part-time local hires, and drew thousands of customers, including fans who camped out overnight, according to a company announcement. The retailer is 100% employee-owned through an employee stock ownership plan, per the same release.
Scheels' growth strategy increasingly leans on outsized, experience-driven stores built in partnership with real estate firms. The chain is expanding its footprint in collaboration with Brookfield Properties, according to Chain Store Age, which reports a 210,000-square-foot Scheels is set to open at Wauwatosa, Wisconsin's Mayfair mall in spring 2027. Recent Scheels locations, including the Cedar Park flagship, have leaned on more than 80 specialty shops and other large-scale attractions to pull in shoppers, a pattern that mirrors the aquarium and Ferris-wheel features already installed at the chain's Colorado Springs store.
