MANASSAS, VA-McLane Foodservice will expand its operations here with the development of a distribution center on 25 acres it just purchased in Premier Business Park. The chain restaurant food and paper products provider will ultimately relocate employees from the 100,000-sf space it currently leases in the area to the new center.

McLane has not publicly disclosed the amount it paid for the parcel its 235,000-sf Manassas Virginia Division distribution facility will occupy; however, the Prince William County Department of Economic Development's website lists land in the park for sale at $6 per sf. The Carrolton, TX-headquartered company plans to spend a total of $30 million to realize the project.

News of McLane's expansion emerges just a few weeks after Columbia, MD-based US Foodservice's announcement that it would construct 50,000 sf of additional warehouse and office space at its 220,000-sf distribution center on the outskirts of the city. "The vitality of our business community is measured not only by how many new companies decide to locate here, but also by how many existing businesses decide to remain and expand in the county," says Sean T. Connaughton, Prince William Board of County Supervisors chairman. McLane has tapped Construction Management Technologies to man construction and expects building activity to get under way next year.