The Target Import Warehouse in Suffolk plans to hire about 600 new employees in the coming months, the company announced at Wednesday’s City Council work session.

The hiring burst is coupled with a $50 million expansion to turn the Manning Bridge Road facility into an “upstream distribution center,” which was announced in April 2015. However, the exact number of jobs the expansion would bring was unknown until now.

Al Tresvant, general manager of the Suffolk facility, told City Council members on Wednesday that the upstream distribution center will focus on hard-to-forecast items like apparel and accessories, attempting to get the products to stores at the right times to avoid mark-downs and having products out of stock.

The center will serve 688 stores and be one of only three Target facilities like it in the country. The other two are in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Tresvant said the facility currently has about 125 employees. Suffolk Economic Development Director Kevin Hughes said the 600-person addition brings the warehouse, which opened in 2003, to the seventh-largest employer in the city.

The new jobs are primarily in equipment operations and packaging and shipping, according to a Target press release sent Wednesday. However, Tresvant said, managers and clerical positions also are being hired.

The hiring process will start very soon, Tresvant said.

Anyone interested in one of the 600 jobs can apply at target.com/careers.

City Council members applauded the announcement during their work session.

“Thank you for the community partner Target has been ever since you’ve been here,” Mayor Linda T. Johnson told Tresvant.

Tresvant said Target gives 5 percent of its profits to its communities, which has included about $15,000 in grants recently to Suffolk organizations.

Eddie Baeb, a Target spokesman, said last year that the Suffolk location is important logistically for the company to get its product to the stores.

The footprint of the building will not grow, as all the construction will be on the interior, he said. Specialized material handling equipment and product lines will be added, and no down time is expected as the expansion takes place.