There's reason to feel good in Blytheville today

"This is the one we've been waiting for."

That one phrase might best express the sentiment from last week's announcement that Aviation Repair Technologies will bring a $20 million aircraft maintenance and repair facility to the Arkansas Aeroplex.

Indeed, it is something the community has been waiting for. Whether or not it is truly "the one" can be debated, but there can be little doubt that there are many good reasons to feel good about this news.

For starters, it's the jobs. ART officials say they'll have more than 300 employees within three years. A second phase will bring that number to around 440. And they're not just jobs. They're good jobs. We're talking $20-an-hour jobs.

All this makes the ART announcement about the biggest economic development news in north Mississippi County is at least a decade. The only comparable project county-wide the past few years has been Denso, which brought its auto-parts plant to Osceola several years ago.

But it's not just the jobs — the good jobs — that's good news. Another reason to feel good about the ART project is that it's not steel. Not that there's anything wrong with steel, mind you. After all, you can't be upset with an industry that already provides so many jobs and such wide-ranging support for this area.

But from a long-term economic standpoint, it's always good to have a diverse industrial base in a community. You don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. The aerospace industry is seen statewide as an area for economic growth, and with ART, it's good to see Blytheville get a piece of that action, expanding the local industrial offerings.

The ART announcement was also good because it came at the right time. The whole country has had a case of the economic doldrums the past few months. Across the country, it's been a housing slump and a stock market stagnation. At home, its been the announced closure of Milwaukee Electric Tool and the apparent near-miss on a new large-scale steel operation out of Ohio.

In other words, we needed something good to happen. And that's what the news on ART has been — something to feel good about, to provide a jump start to continued community growth.

But most of all, word of ART coming is good because it will be so nice to finally see the Arkansas Aeroplex come back to life, in a large-scale way.

After all, who in Blytheville has not had a conversation that featured such phrases as "It's such a shame to see all those buildings go to waste," or "Why can't they get something in there?"

Indeed, a drive through the Aeroplex has been depressing for some time. Though there have been numerous success stories (several hundred people are already employed on property), the overall impression left by the abundance of empty, deteriorating buildings has been cause for heartache for many.

But there's a happy end to the story. With the arrival of ART, once again, airplanes will be flying in and out of Blytheville on a regular basis. The company plans to occupy all but one of the hangers at the Aeroplex. And because ART is establishing its corporate headquarters here, we can assume that additional facility upgrades are in order.

The hope here is that ART's arrival can fuel a greater upgrade to the overall appearance of the Aeroplex. Surely there are other buildings that can be cleaned up, security fences that can be removed, structures that can be razed and green areas that can be better maintained. It's no doubt easier said than done, and of course cost is a major obstacle; but perhaps the recent good news can inject new energy into these projects.

But the bottom line is that Blytheville has a reason to feel good right now. Though there is obviously much work to be done, there are enough things happening all over town — from a Main Street resurgence, to new housing developments, to restaurants that have yet to wear off their newness — to suggest our community is on the upswing.

But the greatest sign occurred last week when officials announced that Aviation Repair Technologies would be landing at the Arkansas Aeroplex.

This is the one we've been waiting for.