A new 350,000-square-foot, $112 million Kroger fulfillment center in Pleasant Prairie is being supported with a roughly $950,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Gov. Tony Evers announced Monday.
The new Kroger grocery distribution center, being built east of 88th Avenue and south of Bain Station Road, could employ
as many as 700 workers in five years. It is scheduled to open in 2022 after a 0.8-mile section of County Road H is reconstructed, according to a news release from Evers' office.
The $1.9 million road project is receiving the state grant through WisDOT's
Transportation Economic Assistance grant program. The project will rebuilt the county road between 93rd Place and Bain Station Road.
“Reconstruction of the road is necessary due to the increased truck and employee traffic that will come when the facility opens,” Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser said in a release. “We appreciate the assistance from WisDOT and the TEA program to help make this transportation improvement and economic development project a reality.”
Cincinnati-based The Kroger Co., along with U.K.-based online supermarket company Ocado,
announced the project plans in November 2019. It
acquired the project site that same month for $7.4 million.
“Congratulations to Kroger on an exciting new project that brings hundreds of new jobs to southeast Wisconsin and demonstrates exactly what the TEA grants program is about,” WisDOT Secretary-designee Craig Thompson said in a statement. “We welcome opportunities to work with businesses across the state to build the infrastructure necessary for growth.”
In 2020, the TEA program has awarded 11 grants totaling $5.2 million to support transportation improvements linked to projects that will create 1,005 new jobs and retain 686 jobs in Wisconsin.