Kubota Tractor Corp. announced today construction has begun on a 617,865 sq. ft. expansion of its National Distribution Center (NDC) on the company’s existing property in Jefferson, Ga. The project is adjacent to the Kubota Industrial Equipment (KIE) facility off of I-85 North.

Scheduled for completion in July 2017, the expansion’s nearly $16 million investment is aimed at Kubota’s continued growth and manufacturing demands in its compact tractor, utility vehicle and turf product markets.

The extended facility will triple the existing square footage to accommodate 956,161 sq. ft. of space that will allow the company to increase warehousing efficiencies to store and process more equipment produced by nearby Kubota Manufacturing of America (KMA) and KIE, which are both primed to increase production to meet growing consumer demand.

“This is an exciting time for Kubota as our continued growth has led us to several facility expansions in recent years — from our new manufacturing plant in nearby Gainesville to our new headquarters building in Grapevine, Texas,” said Alex Woods, vice president of product resources, parts and divisional operations for Kubota Tractor Corp. “We are diversifying our product lines and expanding our operational footprint here in Georgia to better respond to ongoing dealer and customer demand for multiple product lines here in the U.S.”

The newly expanded NDC will store and process Kubota equipment — tractors, backhoes, loaders, tires, weights, along with hay tools, utility vehicles and turf equipment — until it’s ready for distribution to dealers around the country. In January 2017, KMA in nearby Gainesville-Hall County will start production at its new 502,000 sq. ft. plant to increase production of Kubota’s RTV-Series utility vehicles.

Kubota has been operating in the state of Georgia for more than 40 years, with its first operations located in Norcross. In the mid-1980s, Kubota purchased its first office building in the state at the current Kubota Tractor Corp. Southeast Division headquarters in Suwanee and has since expanded operations in both Gainesville and Jefferson. Kubota Tractor Corp., KMA and KIE are U.S. subsidiaries of Kubota Corp., based in Osaka, Japan.