General Motors plans to open a new supplier park to support future vehicle production at its assembly plant in Arlington, Texas. The new park is expected to house up to 1,250 employees, including bringing more than 850 new jobs to the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.

According to the automaker, the new supplier park will consist of two industrial manufacturing and warehouse buildings comprising more than 1.2 million square feet. GM estimates nearly 600 of the new manufacturing and professional jobs created in these facilities will replace work previously done outside of the U.S.

“Through strong supplier and community relations, we’re able create new supplier parks to generate significant benefits to our manufacturing operations and the communities in which we operate,” said Steve Kiefer, GM Senior Vice President of Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. “This new supplier park will create improved logistics efficiency and coordination, while also bringing significant employment opportunities to Arlington.”

These new jobs are in addition to the 7,000 GM jobs and $1 billion in U.S. investments GM announced earlier this year. The park is expected to be operational in 2018, company officials said.

GM said it has been executing a strategy to create supplier parks adjacent to its U.S. manufacturing sites (already accomplished with Northpoint at GM’s Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas, Wentzville Assembly Plant in Missouri, Bowling Green Assembly in Kentucky and Fort Wayne Assembly Plant in Indiana), and will continue to expand this effort. Supplier parks locating near assembly plants result in significant savings from reduced transportation costs, higher quality communications and continuous improvement activities.

“General Motors has been a part of the American Dream in Arlington from the beginning. In fact, the opening of the assembly plant in Arlington in 1954 was one of the key ignitors of our city’s incredible population and economic growth. And now, more than 60 years later, GM continues to be a critical foundation of Arlington’s economy,” said Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams.

“I am pleased the City Council has once again successfully worked with General Motors, this time to revitalize and redevelop an area that was a deteriorating shopping center and turn it into a vibrant manufacturing site. This action will have an impact on our community for generations to come and further solidify the partnership between Arlington and General Motors,” he added.

“We are excited to establish this new Arlington location as one of our flagship manufacturing operations among IAC’s 22 other U.S. plants,” said Steve Miller, President & CEO of IAC. “IAC’s role as a supplier of vehicle interiors to GM extends back almost a century and this impressive new center marks a great beginning to our next century in partnership with this customer.”