Aug 18, 2005 9:07 AM, from staff and wire reports

Sysco Corp has signed a contract to purchase a 300-acre site in Alachua FL upon which it will construct its second redistribution center (RDC). Construction will begin after the Houston TX-based foodservice marketer and distributor completes due diligence.

This center is the second of as many as nine planned facilities that eventually will encompass similar Sysco warehouses throughout the United States as part of the firm's Supply Chain Initiative project.

The approximately 500,000-square-foot Alachua RDC will include freezer, refrigeration, dry storage, and office space and is expected to be finished by autumn 2006.

Site selection for Sysco's third RDC, which will be in the Midwest, is nearing completion.