A Suffolk funeral home has added a satellite location in Wakefield after purchasing the building earlier this month.

R.W. Baker & Co. Funeral Home & Crematory purchased the former J.T. Morriss and Son Funeral Home Wakefield Chapel. The transaction had been in the works since around the beginning of the year, said funeral home Vice President Blake Baker.

“It was just a nice complement for us being able to expand not too far away,” said Baker, the fifth generation to work at the family business.

Baker heard through a florist that Morriss was looking to sell the building. Baker had been looking for land in a different town along U.S. Route 460, but soon decided Wakefield — with a building already available — was a good fit.

“We felt like we could give them a good service,” Baker said of the Wakefield area.

Extensive work has been done on the location, which is a renovated home. The Bakers have renovated the chapel, replaced the air-conditioning, put in a new ceiling and walls, revamped the lighting in the chapel and visitation room and repaved the parking lot.

They also took the pews out of the visitation room and replaced them with chairs that can be moved out of the way for visitations.

Baker said the funeral home already is working to establish relationships in the community.

“Just to try to be a part of the community is a big thing in a rural area,” Baker said.

He has found there are many connections between families in Wakefield and Suffolk, he said.

The chapel in Wakefield will offer all the same services provided by Baker’s Suffolk location on West Washington Street. It does not have a crematory, but cremation services can be provided through the crematory in Suffolk, he said.

The new location is at 11414 General Mahone Highway.

The Bakers also are co-owners of Baker-Foster Funeral Home on Lee Farm Lane in North Suffolk.