KINSTON -- When Spirit AeroSystems opens its new plant here this week, it's unlikely that any of the state officials in attendance will want to dwell on the past.
Spirit is the first large tenant to come to the Global TransPark, a government project long criticized for receiving lots of taxpayers' money but having little to show for it.
The arrival of Spirit, which has promised to create 1,000 jobs over the next six years, is being hailed as a turning point in the park's troubled 19-year history.
"It gives us a kind of anchor to build around; not too different from IBM coming to the Research Triangle Park," said Gene Conti, the state transportation secretary and chairman of the Global TransPark Authority.
But for a project that has already tested the patience of many, questions remain about how much more taxpayer support will be needed.
The House version of the state budget would cut Global TransPark's annual funding in half, to $640,000, and require the park to report on how it expects to pay down the $38 million it owes the state. The House and Senate are now negotiating over the final budget.
"I feel good about [Spirit], but at the same time they've borrowed a considerable amount of money," said Rep. Nelson Cole, a Reidsville Democrat. "We think it's incumbent upon us to tell them that we need to know what the plan is to pay it back."
Spirit makes aircraft components for Airbus, Boeing and other manufacturers, and it was supposed to attract Spirit suppliers and other aerospace companies to the TransPark.
The company is the centerpiece of the TransPark's efforts to position itself as a key part of the state's growing aviation industry. The park, 90 miles southeast of Raleigh, is hoping its proximity to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro and Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point near Havelock will provide its tenants with a consistent source of skilled workers.
Not yet a magnet
So far, however, the Spirit deal hasn't translated into more tenants for the park.
The TransPark has 13 tenants, including three government agencies, which is the same number it had when Spirit signed on two years ago.
Darlene Waddell, the TransPark's executive director, said a logistics partner of Spirit has committed to the park but hasn't been announced. She is confident others will follow.
"I certainly don't have a timetable for it," she said. "We're going to have to give Spirit time to ramp up."
Spirit was lured to the TransPark with incentives that could exceed $180 million if it meets job and investment requirements.
The incentives include a $100 million grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation to offset the cost of building the company's 500,000-square-foot plant. The state transportation department is spending more than $25 million to make road improvements and run a rail spur into the park that will connect with the port in Morehead City.
Spirit is leasing the plant from the state for $100 a year.
Airbus parts to Europe
The company will make fuselage components for Airbus planes at the Kinston plant. The parts will be shipped by rail or road to Morehead City, and then by boat to Europe.
The company's deal with the state also gives it priority use of the TransPark's training center, which has been renamed the Spirit AeroSystems Composite Center of Excellence.
Tying the TransPark's future so tightly to one corporate partner carries risks.
Dell, for example, was lured to Winston-Salem by nearly $280 million in state and local incentives. But just four years after the factory opened, the computer maker said it would close the plant and lay off its 905 workers.
Waddell notes that Spirit's projected growth is based on existing contracts the company has with Airbus. Spirit has also pledged to invest $100 million of its own in additional buildings that the state will own.
The TransPark's existing buildings are 97 percent leased, which means drawing in new tenants will require the park to either build speculative office or warehouse space or bring in private partners the way Research Triangle Park has.
Neither of those things is likely to happen until the park settles its debt with the state.
Escheat Fund onus
The TransPark has received nearly $250 million in state, federal and local money since 1991. But it is the park's loan from the obscure state Escheat Fund that is the biggest hindrance to park development.
The Escheat Fund consists of the proceeds from abandoned property that is brought under the state's control.
The TransPark got a $25 million loan from the fund, but it has never generated enough income to even keep up with the interest payments on the loan.
Of the $38 million the TransPark owes the state, $16.4 million is accrued interest.
"We're not generating a huge enough amount of capital to repay that loan," Conti said. "Getting the Escheat Fund issue resolved is in the long-term interest of the TransPark."
Conti said private lenders and developers are not interested in investing in the park as long as the state holds liens on all the project's property.
"Every year we have an audit done and the auditors come in and say we're broke and we owe all this money to the state," he said.
Even if lawmakers agree to waive or renegotiate the TransPark's debt, it's unlikely that private investors will line up to develop in the park, particularly given the state of the economy and of the credit markets.
And although the road network around the TransPark continues to be upgraded, the 2,500-acre park is still isolated.
"I think the Kinston area still has some issues to overcome in terms of its rural location," said Michael Walden, an economist at N.C. State University.
Goal: a bustling park
When conceived in the early 1990s, the TransPark was envisioned as a bustling business park built around aviation, logistics and trade. Though Spirit's arrival moves the park closer to that goal, the park has a long way to go.
On a recent weekday morning most of the activity in the park involved DOT workers rushing to get the Spirit site ready for the grand opening Thursday.
The park's jetport, which was recently renovated using grants from Federal Aviation Administration, was deserted.
The lone visitor was Tito Burroughs, 36, a McDonald's cashier who comes to the airport to take advantage of the free wireless Internet.
