Quarra Stone Breaks Ground on New Facility

SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. – Quarra Stone moved one step closer to its future late last month with the groundbreaking here for a new $19 million headquarters and work facility.

Local and state officials joined company CEO Jim Durham in a ceremony Sept. 28 to begin construction of a new 65,000 ft² production/office building as part of a 25-acre corporate campus.

The two-story stone-and-steel facility will be set in an ecologically restored landscape and integrate sustainable, natural hydrological systems.

The facility, planned by noted architectural firm Snøhetta of Oslo, Norway, will double Quarra’s production capacity when the company moves from its current six-acre location in nearby Madison, Wis. Completion is set for the middle of next year.

The project received support from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC) The group authorized up to $350,000 in state income-tax credits over the next three years, with the total depending on job creation and capital investment during that period.

Quarry plans to add at least two dozen jobs with the new facility to augment the 65 now working for the company.

Founded in 1998, Quarra produces custom-cut stone for architects, artists, and masons for use in building restoration projects nationwide, with its 1,500 completed projects including the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington and work at nine statehouse projects nationwide.

Future work includes collaboration with architect Maya Lin for a sculpture at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago and a memorial to the victims of the mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.

Quarra is also the sole North American distributor of Vals quartzite from Switzerland and Spain’s Polardur limestone from Spain.