American Eagle Outfitters Inc. will break ground next week on an expansion project at its distribution center in Ottawa, more than doubling the complex’s size and promising to add 300 jobs within five years.

The company has scheduled an April 5 groundbreaking ceremony for the project, a 540,000-square-foot addition that is scheduled to come online in April of next year.

Back in 2000, Pennsylvania-based American Eagle, with more than 800 stores targeting teens and young adults, originally had planned to build a 402,000-square-foot, $42 million distribution center at the East Hills Business Park in Lawrence. But, later that year, the company dropped those plans amid public opposition to the project’s anticipated tax breaks, American Eagle’s wage scale and planned redevelopment of farmland.

American Eagle instead turned to Ottawa, opting to spend $31.5 million redeveloping an existing building with future space for expansion.