NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- An out-of-state company is moving forward with plans to build a trade center in downtown Nashville that will deal strictly to market medicine and health care.

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Dallas-based Market Center Management hopes to build a 1.5-million-square-foot medical trade center in downtown Nashville.

Bill Winsor, the president of Market Center Management, said Nashville was "an obvious location" for the facility since university hospitals and the Hospital Corporation of America are based here.

If the facility is built, it could result in hundreds, or even thousands, of new jobs in the area.

For months, city leaders have been meeting in Nashville and Dallas as they worked out a deal. The goal is to have the facility running in downtown Nashville by 2010.

The group said the center would be the first of its kind in the United States and would serve as a facility for manufacturers and distributors to display and demonstrate their health care products.

"It's permanent space, 365 days a year, companies coming in, taking a full-term lease and working with trade shows and programs and events throughout the year that are developed by us," said Winsor.

The development comes at the same time the city of Nashville tries to break ground on a new convention center downtown. Developers stress that the health care center would target a different audience and would not compete with clients that the new convention center may approach.

"It's very symbiotic. There's no competition there at all. In fact, it really is an enabler for both of us," said Winsor.

Currently, the company is looking at three sites near the proposed convention center site to build the facility in Nashville. The president of Market Center Management said an existing building will be refurbished that will help with the financing of the project.

The development is in the process of getting approval from the Nashville Chamber of Commerce.