Costco Thompson's Station Approved: What Has to Happen Before Construction

Costco cleared its biggest public vote in Thompson's Station. On Tuesday, October 27, 2026, the Town's Planning Commission approved the Costco Site Plan for a 168,244-square-foot warehouse and a 32-pump fuel station on Columbia Pike, just south of I-840. The vote was 6-0, on a motion to approve "subject to the 13 staff contingencies listed."

That doesn't mean bulldozers next week. A site plan approval says the building and parking lot meet the Town's rules. Before construction can start, the developer still has to record a final plat for the larger Hatcher Cotton subdivision, sign a road-cost agreement for the Highway 31 corridor, sign a development agreement with the Town, and get permits. Costco itself still hasn't announced the store, though the Town's documents carry its name and the drawings carry Costco Wholesale branding.

The site is on the Columbia Pike (US-31) corridor that Spring Hill, Thompson's Station and Columbia residents all drive. The nearest Costco today is the Cool Springs store in Brentwood.

Aerial rendering of the proposed Costco warehouse with a large white fuel canopy in the foreground, a parking lot, landscaping and a road along the near edge. Applicant's overall aerial rendering, labeled "not to scale." Source: Town of Thompson's Station Planning Commission staff report, Oct. 27, 2026, Item 5 (Costco / Ware Malcomb plans).

What has to happen before construction

The commission approved the plan with 13 conditions attached. Most are routine paperwork. A few are real gates, and they come in roughly this order:

1. Record the Hatcher Cotton final plat. The Costco lot is one of five in the Hatcher Cotton subdivision. Its final plat has to be recorded before the Town will even accept a building permit application.
2. Finish the traffic deal. The road work from the subdivision's traffic study has to be finalized with Town staff and folded into the Columbia Pike Corridor Plan, also before a building permit application is accepted.
3. Sign the Highway 31 agreement. Before any building permit is issued, the developer has to join the Highway 31 Corridor Improvement Plan Agreement, which splits road and public infrastructure costs among TDOT, the Town and the other developments along US-31.
4. Sign a development agreement with the Town and submit a revised plan set before the Town issues the land development permit (the permit to start site work).
5. Get sign-offs from the Williamson County Fire Marshal, every utility provider and the state and federal permitting agencies before the pre-construction meeting.
6. Get TDOT's answer on the signal. The middle entrance on Columbia Pike is proposed as a signalized intersection, and that's TDOT's call, not the Town's.

Commissioners asked the obvious question at the meeting: does the road work have to be finished before the store opens? Not as a hard rule, Town staff said. The Highway 31 agreement will set the timing, the improvements will be bonded and will have to be completed, and the intent is to mirror the approach used for Sagefield "as much as possible." The Board of Mayor and Aldermen has already looked at the agreement once and will see an updated version after TDOT weighs in. Staff said there would be more to report "in the coming months."

Signs are a separate application. Costco's representative said the store won't have a monument sign on the road; all of its signage will be on the building.

What we still don't know: when construction will start, when the store would open, and whether the final plat or Highway 31 agreement is close. As of Nov. 9, I haven't found a Costco announcement or a building permit. I'll update this post when one of those gates moves.

Costco Thompson's Station: the site plan at a glance

• Where: 5001 Merchant Lane, Tract E of the Hatcher Cotton Subdivision at 4521 Columbia Pike, Thompson's Station, TN 37179.
• Building: one single-story "discount shopping club," 168,244 sq ft, on 24.64 acres zoned Community Commercial (CC).
• Fuel: a 32-pump station of 11,655 sq ft, which staff call a "subordinate automotive use."
• Parking: 854 spaces (631 required).
• Trees: 415 planned (308 required).
• Entrances: three on Columbia Pike, with the middle one proposed to be signalized, subject to TDOT review.
• Status: site plan approved 6-0 by the Planning Commission on October 27, 2026, with 13 contingencies.

What the plans show

The building and fuel station. The submittal includes elevations for both. The north wall faces I-840 and the west wall faces the existing dog park. The architect on the drawings is Ware Malcomb. A note on the sheets says signage will be reviewed under a separate sign permit.

Parking, trees and stormwater. The 854 spaces include 10 spaces served by an EV charger, 1 EV ADA space, 17 EV-capable spaces and 17 ADA spaces. There will also be more than 60 bicycle parking spaces. Because 854 is more than 120% of the 631-space minimum, the ordinance requires 50% of the parking area to use low-impact design. The plan answers that with a bioretention pond, extra landscaping and a paved greenway. The 415 trees compare with 308 required.

A trail to the dog park. A 10-foot-wide asphalt greenway extension and trailhead would give direct access from Columbia Pike to the Town's dog park.

How you'd get in. All three entrances are on Columbia Pike and are shared with the rest of the Hatcher Cotton subdivision:

• North: two lanes in, one lane out, right turn only.
• Middle: two lanes in, three out (two left-turn, one right-turn-only). It is proposed to be signalized and is under TDOT's review.
• South: right-in, right-out only.

The staff report says the Town is "still coordinating" with the Hatcher Cotton applicant and TDOT on all necessary reviews and approvals.

Traffic. No new traffic study came with the site plan. The report says the building was already covered by the study filed with the Hatcher Cotton preliminary plat. Off-site road work from that study has to be completed under the Highway 31 Corridor Improvement Plan Agreement.

Overall site plan for the Costco Wholesale project at 5001 Merchant Lane, Thompson's Station, showing the warehouse building at the top beside I-840, the existing dog park to its west, the fuel station and parking, and three other development parcels along Columbia Pike. Overall site plan (sheet C1.00). Source: Town of Thompson's Station Planning Commission staff report, Oct. 27, 2026, Item 5.

Rendering of the Costco main entrance, a gabled entry on a long low building at sunset, with shoppers near the doors. Applicant's rendering of the main entrance. Source: Town of Thompson's Station staff report, Oct. 27, 2026, Item 5.

One small discrepancy: the staff report and the site plan sheet say 5001 Merchant Lane, while the elevation and rendering sheets say 5005 Merchant Lane.

Why the vote was a formality, mostly

A site plan is a non-discretionary decision in Thompson's Station. The commission can approve it, approve it with contingencies, or deny it, based on whether it meets the Town's Land Development Ordinance. It also acts as the Town's design review body, with "limited discretion" over architecture and site design. Commissioners used some of that discretion to ask about the tire center's facade; the architect pointed to the landscaping and the outparcels that will screen it from Columbia Pike.

The Planning Commission meets the fourth Tuesday of each month at Town Hall, 1110 Fountain View Blvd., and meetings are public.

How we got here: the evidence before the site plan

This post first ran April 22, 2026 as "Is Costco Coming to Thompson's Station, TN?", before any Town document used the name Costco. The question then was whether a 165,890 square foot "discount shopping club" on a new plat was a Costco. Here is the earlier reporting, condensed.

April: the Hatcher Cotton plat

The Hatcher Cotton plat was filed for the April 28, 2026 Planning Commission agenda, per that meeting's staff report (Item 4). It proposed dividing 46.66 acres at 4521 Columbia Pike into five commercial lots, with three accesses onto Columbia Pike. The staff report listed the planned mix:

• A free-standing emergency room, about 18,000 SF
• A general retail plaza, about 78,000 SF
• A discount shopping club, about 165,890 SF
• Several fast-casual and fast-food restaurants with drive-thrus

The commission approved the preliminary plat on April 28, 2026. Louis Sloane of T Square Engineering presented it, describing three access points onto Columbia Pike preserved "for flexibility." The approval was narrower than it sounds. The commission treated the plat as non-discretionary, and three limits came with it:

• The plat did not vest specific users. Nothing committed the site to Costco or any named retailer.
• Final access locations were not locked in, and each lot still needed its own site plan approval.
• Traffic signals and off-site road improvements were subject to TDOT review.

Hatcher Cotton preliminary plat site plan filed with the Town of Thompson's Station, showing the 46.66-acre commercial subdivision at 4521 Columbia Pike just south of I-840. Hatcher Cotton preliminary plat (April 2026). Source: Town of Thompson's Station Planning Commission staff report, April 28, 2026, Item 4.

Aerial photo outline of the Hatcher Cotton site between I-840 and Columbia Pike, with the five lots outlined in blue. Hatcher Cotton site outline over an aerial photo. Source: Town of Thompson's Station staff report, Oct. 27, 2026, Item 5.

"Discount shopping club" meant Costco, Sam's or BJ's, and Sam's was elsewhere

In real estate filings, "discount shopping club" is a use category, not a brand. It covers Costco, Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale. BJ's prototype runs about 109,000 SF, far smaller than this building, which left Costco or Sam's.

Sam's was spoken for. On February 3, 2026, a warranty deed recorded in Maury County's Register of Deeds (instrument R3126-285) conveyed Lot 13 of Legacy Pointe in Spring Hill from Spring Hill Holdings LLC to Sam's Real Estate Business Trust, Walmart's property-holding entity for Sam's Club. Spring Hill Mayor Matt Fitterer published the county's deed index that day, noting there was "still no official word on who will be the end user of the new Wholesale Club in Legacy Pointe," but that Sam's Real Estate Business Trust had bought the lot. Spring Hill's Planning Commission had approved that building on December 8, 2025 (site plan PDF 1969-2025): roughly 166,740 square feet, with a canopy over twelve fuel dispensers.

See also: Sam's Club in Spring Hill: the $11.3 million Legacy Pointe land deal.

The Legacy Pointe lot is only about six miles from this site, and Sam's doesn't build two clubs that close together, so the Hatcher Cotton club was very unlikely to be a Sam's. That left Costco.

The square footage

Costco's current prototype runs roughly 160,000 to 165,000 SF for the warehouse, while Sam's averages closer to 136,000 SF. A 165,890 SF building looked like a Costco number, and developers rarely pick round numbers for plat filings because the footprint usually comes from the tenant's prototype. The final site plan came in at 168,244 SF.

The traffic engineering

The traffic study filed with the plat called for new signals at all three site accesses on Columbia Pike, plus right-turn lanes and striping work at seven more intersections. The October site plan is more specific about the accesses: only the middle one is proposed to be signalized, subject to TDOT review. The April staff report also noted the applicant was "requesting further discussions regarding the responsibility" of several right-turn lanes and signal upgrades.

The market gap

The nearest Costco today is in Brentwood, at Cool Springs, roughly 25 to 30 minutes from Spring Hill off-peak and worse on weekends.

Costco planned 28 new warehouse openings for fiscal year 2026, with only 7 publicly announced at the time of the original post. Tennessee has 9 Costco stores today, which is low for a state of 7.2 million people.

A corridor going commercial

Hatcher Cotton isn't a one-off. The stretch of Columbia Pike between I-840 and downtown Thompson's Station is filling in:

• Shoppes at Fountain View, a 47,000 SF retail center that opened in late 2025, half a mile south of the site.
• Columbia Pike widening. TDOT is reconstructing US-31 to four lanes from Franklin through Thompson's Station into Spring Hill. The Town got the project pulled forward from 2029 to 2026 by committing $15M in local funds.
• Mars Petcare Global Innovation Center, already operating next to the site.

A few miles east, on Lewisburg Pike, Simon's Sagefield shopping and dining destination is the biggest project in Thompson's Station history, with a 2028 target opening.

What could still go wrong

• The deal could change. A site plan approval isn't a store announcement, and Costco hasn't made one. If the deal falls through, the lot could end up with something else.
• Off-site road costs. The Town requires the developer to commit to a share of road improvements before building permits are issued, and hard negotiations at that stage have killed commercial projects.
• Later gates. The final plat, the Highway 31 agreement, the development agreement, TDOT's review of the signal and the building permit all still lie ahead, and any one of them can delay a project for months.

What to watch next

• Recording of the Hatcher Cotton final plat, which staff say must happen before any building permit application is accepted.
• TDOT's decision on the proposed signal at the middle Columbia Pike access.
• The Highway 31 Corridor Improvement Plan Agreement and the Development Agreement.
• Tennessee Secretary of State filings naming Costco. Costco usually registers in a state before opening a store there.
• Town announcements and construction notices. The Town's current developments page is the best running source.

If you have information on the project, such as a site plan, an agreement or a contractor notice, get in touch.

Update history

• November 9, 2026: Updated with the Oct. 27 Planning Commission approval (6-0, with 13 contingencies) and what still has to happen before construction.
• October 23, 2026: Restructured to lead with the Town's Costco Site Plan staff report (Planning Commission, Oct. 27, Item 5).
• August 21, 2026: Added the April 28 plat approval and the Maury County deed that ruled out Sam's Club at this site.
• April 22, 2026: First published, from the preliminary plat filed for the April 28 Planning Commission agenda.

Related

• Spring Hill development tracker: every big project on one map
• Sam's Club in Spring Hill: the $11.3 million Legacy Pointe land deal
• Spring Hill's sewer moratorium, explained
• Spring Hill's grocery stores, and what's coming