A Brooklyn, N.Y.-based company operate a seafood processing facility in Pender County with plans to hire 120 people when it opens, company representatives and economic development officials announced at a press conference Friday morning.

Acme Smoked Fish Corporation, a family-owned company with facilities in Pompano Beach, Fla. as well as in Brooklyn, is establishing new subsidiary RC Creations LLC for its North Carolina operations, said Richard Nordt, Acme’s vice president of manufacturing.

Friday’s announcement was made by Tony Almeida, senior advisor for jobs and the economy in Gov. Pat McCrory’s office. Officials at the press conference said the company will invest between $25 million and $30 million in the 100,000-square-foot facility, to be sited in the Pender Commerce Park on U.S. 421 at the Pender-New Hanover county line.

RC Creations will rely on the Port of Wilmington as it imports fresh and frozen fish from all over the world and exports the finished products to domestic and international markets. Nordt said that emerging markets in Asia and South America will be particularly important to the new company.

The project is expected to break ground Monday, and the plant is slated to open Oct. 1, 2014, Nordt said, adding that all projected 120 workers will be on board when the facility opens. He said that if the Pender County enterprise is successful, the plant could double in size and increase its workforce to 250 by 2017.

RC Creations’ employees will primarily be material handlers, with specialized functions including seafood cutters, smokers, briners, packagers and loaders. Currently, Acme’s salmon lox, wild-caught herring, fish salads and specialty smoked fish are distributed through retailers under the Acme, Blue Hill Bay, Great American and Ruby Bay brands.

The company will contract with Cape Fear Community College to train its workforce prior to the plant’s opening, Nordt said.

Economic development officials in Pender County and the N.C. Department of Commerce have been working with Wilmington Business Development, various state departments and a host of utilities companies for more than eight months to land the project – the first for the 400-acre Pender Commerce Park. A telephone call from Duke Energy last February alerted WBD of Acme’s potential interest in locating its new company in the Cape Fear area.

Pender County won out over 11 other potential Eastern Seaboard sites because of its business-friendly climate, the site’s proximity to the county’s water treatment plant and the Port of Wilmington and the quality of life available in the area, Almeida said.

Pender County manager Mickey Duvall said that the county hopes to get a rail link to the commerce park to serve RC Creations and future companies there.

“We’re applying for a grant to do a rail feasibility study,” he said. “Rail and cold storage at the port will be very important for RC Creations.”