Frozen and canned organic products leaderAmy's Kitchen, Santa Rosa, Calif., plans by January 2012, to renovate and operate a former Sara Lee bakery in Greenville, S.C., according to several reports.

South Carolina state officials said Amy's will spend approximately $63 million to upgrade the 125,000-square-foot site. Although operations and product mix details were not available, the site could eventually employ as many as 700 people, officials said.

"We are pleased to move forward with our plans to locate a new facility in South Carolina, allowing us to expand production capacity and more easily and efficiently reach customers and markets all along the East Coast," said Amy's President Andy Berliner, in a statement reported by theNorth Bay (Calif.) Business Journal(NBBJ).

In other news,NBBJreported that Amy's signed a 10-year lease for a 110,000-square-foot former Ritz Foodservice distribution warehouse in Santa Rosa. A real estate broker connected with deal said Amy's intends to consolidate several Santa Rosa area operations -- including a cheese processing -- into the former warehouse.