The "Hallelujahs" emanating from Kinston could be heard all the way to the state capital.

Seventeen years later, the Global TransPark has a major tenant. The better than $200 million in state and federal money poured into the project finally will see some return.

Well, not just yet. The state still must put another $105 million toward the project – a $5 million direct grant to Spirit AeroSystems and a $100 million to go toward a building that it will occupy. Another $20 million, based on a percentage of payroll taxes, will go to the company over the next 12 years.

Still, the airline parts manufacturer plans to hire 1,031 workers and invest $570 million. By any measure, Spirit AeroSystems is the kind of major tenant that former Gov. Jim Martin and then-N.C. Senate leader Henson Barnes had in mind when, in 1992, they got the ball rolling on this idea of a commercial-only airport that would cater to manufacturers pushing product through the air.

"Today, we start to silence all of these naysayers over the years who have been heckling from the sidelines," Gov. Mike Easley said during the official announcement last week.

The key word from Easley is "start."

Let's not forget that the TransPark began with a promise of delivering not a thousand jobs, but tens of thousands of jobs to eastern counties stuck in economic quicksand. The project once was envisioned as a Research Triangle-like savior for the East.

Perhaps Spirit AeroSystems will be that start, and certainly it's a good get for Lenoir and surrounding counties on its own.

But given the investment in the TransPark, and the incentives offered by the state, the return on the taxpayer's dollar hardly will be complete if Spirit AeroSystems becomes a standalone tenant at the facility. Maybe the company's decision will spark more investment, and we'll look back to find that the TransPark was simply an idea just a tad bit ahead of its time.

The decision, though, doesn't change the fact that deficiencies well known to economic developers – the lack of a nearby interstate-quality highway, single rail service – still weigh down the project.

And when state officials show off the project to high-flying corporate execs, they don't stop in Kinston to show off potential home sites. They speed down U.S. 70 and tour waterfront homes in New Bern.

Of course, those deficiencies are kind of like the chicken and the egg. With a chicken arrived, perhaps its eggs will hatch in the future to reveal better roads and the like. The economic boost to the area also should lead to the kinds of amenities that make Kinston a more attractive place to live.

And maybe Spirit AeroSystem's decision shows that the economic curve is catching up to the idea of a TransPark, and those same economic realities will affect future site decisions.

So, governor, we naysayers will quit our yapping. Some actually will hope that they're proven wrong.