Gaining altitude.

• Position: EASTERN REGION

Eastern North Carolina is hoping a recent jobs announcement at the North Carolina Global TransPark will give new life to the region's hopes of developing an aerospace industry. North State Aviation, a Winston-Salem based aircraft maintenance and repair company, announced in late September that it would invest $900,000 in the 2,500-acre Lenoir County industrial center, creating 109 jobs over two years. North State was started in 2010 by three former Piedmont Airlines employees, including CEO Charlie Creech. The company is the largest tenant at Winston-Salem's Smith Reynolds Airport, employing more than 400 people and serving major commercial clients including Chicago-based United Airlines. The announcement is the largest at the TransPark since 2008, when Boeing spinoff Spirit AeroSystems said it would bring its latest facility --and 1,000 jobs--to the park, says Mark Pope, executive director of Lenoir County Economic Development. Spirit's 500,000-square-foot fuselage and wing shop opened in 2010.

"It really opens up more opportunities for the Global TransPark and eastern North Carolina," Pope said. His office has been working to market an aviation cluster. Planning for the industrial site dates to the early 1990s, when it was touted by then-Gov. Jim Martin and other state leaders who compared the project's potential impact to that of Research Triangle Park. With thousands of jobs expected, the state provided a $25 million loan initially, and more than $50 million in additional funds, according to a 2011 report.

The park never met targets for employment and investment, while the aerospace industry has soared in the Triad area. Spirit hasn't hired as many people as...