Anyone familiar with business and industrial development knows that the process isn't easy. It involves much negotiation and persistence, spates of frustration, a measure of compromise and often a degree of secrecy about certain details until signatures are on the dotted lines.

No doubt the Community Development Corporation of Butler County navigated all aspects of the complex process in connection with its 2½ years of trying to buy the 43-acre Trinity Industries site along Hansen Avenue.

To the credit of CDC and Trinity officials, all of the hard work has ended on a positive note, paving the way for a big chunk of West End revitalization to begin, including construction of a new transit facility, rebuilding of Pullman Park and relocation of five businesses.

It's important to note that the go-ahead for undertakings so substantial lead to additional progress and assets not yet envisioned. Communities undertaking revitalization routinely experience such initially unanticipated benefits - and Butler probably won't be an exception.

The Butler area should take pride in the skill exhibited by CDC officials in negotiating a successful Trinity conclusion on behalf of the community. Numerous times the CDC could have judged the Trinity purchase unattainable and moved on to something else, leaving the site for who-knows-what.

However, the Trinity site is a key component for building upon the development that already has occurred in that area and the CDC realized that a failure on its part would have held troubling implications for big plans that are in the works, including attracting a minor league baseball team.

Instead, the CDC can add the Trinity site to its list of notable achievements as it looks ahead to what the future might hold.

A verbal picture of what the Trinity site purchase entailed was painted by Scott Docherty, CDC president, who said "this was the most frustrating deal."

"It almost didn't happen at all because Trinity first started talking with an outside developer," Docherty said. "Then there was the (environmental) cleanup; then the price; then the financing; and, finally, Trinity had this agreement with Honeywell that is monitoring water on the property that had to get straightened out."

In the end, agreement was reached on a total purchase package, including Trinity's willingness to correct environmental problems with the former railroad car components operation and demolish some of the buildings on the property.

Trinity officials merit praise for not erecting insurmountable roadblocks along the negotiations path, although it was a formidable negotiator that rightly was looking out for its best interests.

With the deal signed, both sides can move on - Trinity, with the $2.5 million that it received for the property, and the city, with the green light it now has for effecting a revitalization that holds exciting possibilities for the city and its surrounding area.

The deal is much more than a successful transaction. It is further evidence that the city is more committed to progress now than it has been for decades.

There must be no relaxing of that attitude.