Officials with the city of Huntsville and Parsons break ground Wednesday on a new 25,000-square-foot expansion. From left are Joe Newberry, 2017 board chair of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County; Mike Dewitz, Parsons executive vice president and division manager for engineering and technical services; Carey Smith, Parsons Group president; and Tommy Battle, mayor of Huntsville.

Officials in Huntsville on Wednesday broke ground on a new 25,000-square-foot facility for contracting firm Parsons, according to a press release.

This expansion will position the company to “better serve its present and future clients,” and will create about 50 jobs, the release said.

Over the last few months, Parsons has held local job fairs to increase its workforce, hiring several dozen people. With these additions, the company now employs approximately 500 people in the Huntsville-Madison County area.

Parsons is headquartered in Pasadena, California, and has more than 100 locations worldwide.

“It is a technology-driven firm that provides premier engineering, construction, and management support throughout the world to federal, regional, and local government agencies as well as private industries,” said a press release about the expansion.