Plans for a new Costco store in Franklin are moving forward as the project begins to make its way through the city's municipal approval process.
The proposed store would be built on a 21-acre site at the northwest corner of South 27th Street and West Drexel Avenue. The land is currently owned by Northwestern Mutual and sits just south of the company’s Franklin office campus, which is scheduled to close in 2027 as employees are relocated to downtown Milwaukee.
According to city documents, the Costco store would span 162,000 square feet, which is about 16,000 square feet larger than Costco’s national average, though consistent with the company’s newer stores.
The Franklin Plan Commission will meet next week to discuss map and comprehensive plan amendments related to the project. In May, the city approved funding for a traffic study.
If approved, construction on the store could begin in early 2026, with the store potentially opening later that year. A planed Costco store in Oconomowoc is also expected to open in 2026.
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Map from GRAEF[/caption]
The Franklin Costco store would be built across South 27th Street from a 116-acre mixed-use project planned in Oak Creek. Led by Wauwatosa-based
Wangard Partners and Pewaukee-based
Siepmann Realty Corp., that project
would include 538 residential units on the northern portion of the site with the southern portion of the site dedicated to commercial uses.
Known as The Prairie, the development would include a retail center with about 82,500 square feet and 9.4 acres available for outlot development. Targeted uses include restaurants, financial institutions, medical and junior box, which usually includes retailers between 15,000 and 3,000 square feet like pet stores or craft stores, according to a listing from
Mid-America Real Estate.
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Map of The Prairie retail development from Mid-America Real Estate.[/caption]
Google Street View images of the Franklin Costco store site:
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