COLUMBIA --- A 160-acre site in Lexington County will be home to a new South Carolina State Farmers Market, organizers of a private-public partnership announced Tuesday.

The new site, which organizers said they hope will be open by March 2010, will feature stores and a restaurant and will bring about 700 jobs to the county.

It will replace the South Carolina farmers market that has been located on 50 acres in Richland County for more than 50 years.

The private-public partnership includes Structioneers Inc., 321 Associates and Lexington County, according to a news release. The partnership also has commitments from six of the major wholesale vendors operating at the current state farmers' market, organizers said.

The South Carolina Department of Agriculture backs the project, which could house the "Certified SC" program, the department's effort to promote products produced in the Palmetto State.

"The plans brought to me for this market proposal are extremely exciting and present a State Farmers market as contemplated by the Department of Agriculture," Commissioner Hugh Weathers said in the release.

A new market had been planned for a 196-acre site near the current farmers market, but those plans stalled earlier this year when wholesale vendors pulled out.

The new site is located south of Columbia near Highway 321 and Interstate 26, organizers said.

The plans might require approval from the state Legislature, said state Sen. Nikki Setzler, D-West Columbia, whose district includes the new site.