Last year the
BizTimes Media editorial team noticed that major business news stories kept coming out of Jefferson County. Companies like
Palermo’s, Nestlé Purina, Kikkoman and others announced major expansions.
With so much happening in Jefferson County, we made a decision to expand our coverage area for the first time since our company launched 30 years ago. BizTimes covers the businesses and economic landscape of a nine-county area of southeastern Wisconsin, which now includes Jefferson County.
As part of that move, we are hosting a new event for the first time, called
MadWaukee 2050. The April 16 event will examine the growth opportunities and challenges along the I-94 corridor between Milwaukee and Madison, with a major emphasis on Jefferson County.
Last year at our Waukesha County 2050 event, one of the themes was the lack of affordable housing as land available for development there is becoming increasingly scarce and housing costs continue to rise, trends that will likely push more residential development pressure into Jefferson County.
And, of course,
the cover story of this issue of BizTimes Milwaukee takes a deep dive into Jefferson County, examining the economic growth ambitions of its leaders and the challenges they will face in achieving them.
One of the smartest moves by Jefferson County officials has been to emphasize attracting food and beverage manufacturing companies, playing on the strengths of the county’s agricultural heritage and existing food and beverage industry. The development of the 165-acre Food and Beverage Innovation Campus in Jefferson has already attracted Japan-based Kikkoman, which is
building a new $560 million facility there, and Finland-based Onego Bio, which will build a $250 million to $300 million facility. That’s two international companies investing more than $800 million in Jefferson County.
Elsewhere in the county, St. Louis-based Nestlé Purina is
adding a $195 million expansion to increase production of wet pet foods; Dublin, Ireland-based
ClonBio Group is investing $500 million into its Aztalan Bio plant; and Milwaukee-based
Palermo’s converted a former Tyson Foods plant into a frozen pizza factory.
These huge investments have gotten a lot of people’s attention in the local business community. And with the county’s strategic position between the metro Milwaukee area and rapidly growing Dane County, some Jefferson County leaders believe their economic growth could be comparable to the I-94 North-South corridor between Milwaukee County and the Illinois state line.
Jefferson County has a long way to go for its economy to rival Racine and Kenosha counties, but its time has come, and the opportunity is there. A major challenge for the county will be defining exactly how it wants to grow. Economic growth is vital but so is maintaining the quality of life enjoyed in a county known for rural landscapes and modest-sized municipalities.
