Amazon's enormous Cottage Grove warehouse, long delayed, finally gets going
Amazon broke ground Wednesday on a Cottage Grove facility that will span more than 3 million square feet after two years of construction delays.
The ecommerce giant's five-story warehouse, slated to open in late 2026, will create up to 1,500 jobs and contribute at least $245 million in taxable value — about a fifth of the village's total tax base — by 2028.
Fulfillment centers like the one coming to Cottage Grove are the largest type of building Amazon constructs, said Jason Vangalis, an Amazon economic development manager, at the groundbreaking event. Amazon has just more than 100 of them across the United States, including several others in Wisconsin. This will be the first in the Madison area.
The transformation of 145 acres of farmland off highway TT into a vast new shipping hub is "one of the largest economic development attraction projects in Dane County history," Vangalis said.
Cottage Grove has been working for more than a decade to attract light industrial development — such as facilities for product assembly, distribution or storage — to expand its tax base, Village Administrator Matt Giese said.
"I don't think anyone could have truly anticipated the scope of what was to come our way," Giese said.
Now, at the culmination of years of planning efforts and negotiations with Amazon, he added, "I cannot tell you how wonderful and gratifying it is to see the construction of this project underway."
The village of Cottage Grove approved Amazon's proposal unanimously in February 2022. Initially expected to start later that year , construction was pushed back multiple times as Amazon suspended some of its expansion efforts in response to the pandemic.
Giese said this summer that the groundbreaking would take place in September . The announcement came shortly after the village board changed when Amazon would be on the hook for the full $245 million in property tax value.
The original agreement approved by the board required Amazon to generate that amount on the site by 2026. Now the company has until 2028.
Several state and local leaders spoke at Wednesday's groundbreaking, including state Sen. Melissa Agard, the newly elected Dane County executive, and Rep. Melissa Ratcliff, who was just elected to the Agard's state Senate seat and will represent the area where the fulfillment center is being built.
"These are true investments in our neighbors, our families, the people who call Dane County home," Agard said. "These are family-sustaining jobs. And this is going to have a domino effect for our region, with supply chain and services and other businesses that are going to come here."
Scheduling challenges — and working around officials' election-related commitments — contributed to the groundbreaking taking place a couple months later than planned, Vangalis said.
He and Agard each highlighted the investments Amazon has made throughout Wisconsin. The company has spent $11 billion in the state since 2010 and added 12,000 full-time and part-time jobs statewide.
Zach Brandon, president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, said Amazon's decision to build in Dane County aligns with projections that show the area's population continuing to climb in the coming years.
"I think Amazon seeing an opportunity to be part of a rapidly growing economy is a validation of what we see," Brandon said.
He expects the facility to become "an additional magnet on the eastern side of Dane County" that draws other businesses, likely beginning with logistics and biotechnology companies, into parts of the county that have historically seen less economic activity.
Not everyone in Cottage Grove or neighboring Sun Prairie is thrilled that Amazon will have such a large footprint in their community, though.
Some people living close to the site have raised concerns about traffic, including higher numbers of trucks entering and exiting the highway, and potential negative environmental impacts in nearby subdivisions and the conservation park across the street.
After the Cottage Grove Plan Commission signed off on the project in 2022, one nearby resident told Channel3000 that he felt like opponents were "being listened to but not really heard."
Growth and development reporter
