Mountaire Farms has entered into an agreement to acquire the former Townsend processing plant and an adjoining property in Siler City Thursday.

“The increasing demand for our products requires us to expand our production and we believe North Carolina is the perfect place for that growth,” said president and CEO Paul Downes.

Mountaire Farms is an agricultural food processing company with facilities in Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina.

Work will begin immediately to renovate and update the newly-acquired facility into a food plant.

“This is the type of news we have long awaited and are quite excited about,” said mayor John Grimes. “We welcome Mountaire Farms and thank them for this vote of confidence in our community.”

The plant is estimated to add over 500 jobs to the area.