A chemical company will open a distribution center as part of redevelopment of the abandoned Vicksburg Chemical Co. site.

Harcros Mississippi LLC plans to open the distribution center in September, general manager John Miles said. The center will employ 25 to 30 workers at start up and company officials hope to double that number in a few years.

The company’s sales and distribution centers are in Jackson currently, but officials eventually hope to relocate entirely to Vicksburg, Miles said.

Harcros Mississippi is a subsidiary of Kansas City, Mo.-based Harcros Chemical. The company also has distribution centers in Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Miles said no chemicals will be made at the site, but workers will repackage materials for transport.

Fertilizer and chemicals had been manufactured at the site since 1953. Production ended when Vicksburg Chemical’s parent company went bankrupt in 2002.

Silver Tip Project Partners LLC acquired the former chemical plant property from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, which took it over after bankruptcy.

Silver Tip owner Paul Bunge, a Denver developer, pledged to spend $8 million to clean up a waste burial site on the property. The distribution center will share the property with a planned golf course, retail and residential area and a casino.