ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal says Tennessee-based Dollar General Corp. plans a 1 million-square-foot distribution center southeast of Atlanta that will employ 500 people when the plant is fully operational.

Deal said Monday that the new facility is expected to serve more than 1,000 stores across the southeastern U.S. The company, based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, operates more than 650 stores.

The governor said the distribution center is scheduled to operate at full capacity by the fall of 2017.

Dollar General announced Monday that it has purchased land for the center — its 15th such facility — in the Jackson, Georgia, area, about 45 miles southeast of Atlanta.

The company's 14 other distribution centers are in Alabama, California, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.