Southern Wine & Spirits is expanding its operations in the East Bay with a big lease in Union City. The distributor of alcoholic beverages signed a lease for 192,000 square feet of warehouse space in Union City, said agents with Cornish & Carey Commercial, a realty brokerage. "We are encouraged to hear that Southern Wine is expanding here," said Joan Malloy, Union City's director of economic and community development. "They are one of our city's major employers." The distributor of wines and spirits employs 725 people in Union City, according to the city's website.