Academy Sports expects to break ground this year on the 750,000-square-foot center in Georgia as it further plots its expansion in the southeast. The distribution center will be Academy's first distribution center outside its Katy, TX headquarters.

The center is expected to serve more than a dozen Academy Sports stores throughout the Southeast. About 60 percent of Academy’s stores are in Texas. Although Academy continues to find new locations in its home state, several of its recent store openings have been in Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana.

Academy expects to invest $50 million in development and add more than 200 jobs to the area, according to a news release. It will be located at Ga. 96 and I-16, just outside the city of Jeffersonville.

The project still awaits government approvals and other details, according to company officials. The center is expected to begin operations in early 2009.