Food processing giant JBS USA has reached an agreement to buy a production facility in Ankeny and plans to convert the plant into what it says will be the largest ready-to-eat bacon and ready-to-eat sausage plant in the company’s U.S. portfolio.

The company, in its announcement late Thursday afternoon, said it would invest $100 million to acquire the 12-acre site at 4150 S.E. Delaware Ave., and convert and expand the 186,000-square-foot facility to meet JBS’s needs. The purchase price of the property was not released.

The property is currently owned by Hy-Vee Inc. subsidiary Perishable Distributors of Iowa LTD. Hy-Vee opened the facility in 2018 to produce grab-and-go items for its stores. The Fresh Commissary in Ankeny produced sandwiches, salads, bakery items and take-and-bake pizzas. Hy-Vee shuttered the facility in June.

“We didn’t anticipate the facility to sit idle for long,” Derek Lord, Ankeny’s economic development, wrote in an email response to questions. “It’s only six to seven years old and in excellent condition. Buildings like this don’t come on the market very often anywhere in the United States.

“It’s a great opportunity for JBS to tap into the workforce that was employed at this facility by Hy-Vee just a few months ago and we’re excited to welcome a new global business to our growing consumable food production cluster in Ankeny.”

Construction of the facility began in 2017. It includes 10 dock doors and four drive-in doors. The property is valued at $26.1 million.

More than 330 people worked at the Ankeny facility when Hy-Vee closed it. JBS, in its announcement, said it would like to hire people who previously worked at the facility. The JBS plant is expected to create 400 jobs when all of the phases of the project are completed.

The plant is expected to be operational by mid-2026.

“Today’s announcement aligns with our long-term strategy of offering more value-added and prepared foods products to meet the needs of our customers and consumers,” Wesley Batista Filho, JBS USA’s CEO, said in a prepared statement. “We are proud to grow our operations in Iowa, where we already operate four production facilities, with another expected to break ground later this year.”

Lord, in his email, wrote that Ankeny does not expect increased truck traffic in the area. “The infrastructure is already in place along this corridor to support high semi traffic volumes,” Lord wrote.

Acquisition of the Ankeny facility is JBS’s second big investment in Iowa this year. In May, JBS announced plans to build a modern fresh sausage production facility in Perry. JBS also operates plants in Council Bluffs, Marshalltown and Ottumwa.

“This facility in Ankeny will not only expand our prepared foods business in the U.S., it will also benefit from synergies and strategic supply of product from our other plants in the region,” Rick Foster, head of JBS USA Prepared Foods, said in a news release.

In 2021, JBS USA opened a fully cooked bacon facility in Moberly, Mo., which has already been through an expansion. The fresh sausage plant in Perry will provide raw material to the Missouri plant, allowing the company to also produce fully cooked sausage items at the facility.

JBS USA will offer its Hometown Strong and Better Futures programs in Ankeny, where it will invest in infrastructure, child care, housing, schools and more, the company said in a news release. The Better Futures program provides tuition-free community college for team members and their children. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, JBS USA has 40 processing facilities in the U.S. In 2020, the company recorded $50 billion in sales with 230,000 workers. JBS’s Marshalltown facility processes more than 21,000 animals per day with more than 2,000 employees.