St. Joseph is “Open for Business.” If you doubt that, venture out to the southeast corner of the city late this afternoon to see what all the fuss is about.

Near the intersection of Pickett and Riverside roads, about 4 p.m., you will find a gathering of public officials, Chamber of Commerce boosters and business leaders looking out over … well, potential.

That’s what the new Eastowne Business Park amounts to right now: tremendous potential for adding new jobs and growing the community’s tax base. This city — more than anything — needs constant attention to the need for more and better jobs. And the ribbon-cutting for Eastowne signals a commitment to that need as well as any project we can imagine.

It’s jobs that encourage families to locate here, to purchase homes and put down roots. Jobs give families confidence to support improvements in their schools and to their streets. Jobs give families hope their children and grandchildren might someday, too, find their future careers by staying in this region rather than pursuing opportunities elsewhere.

The local model for job retention and growth is the successful Mitchell Woods Business Park, another eastside project, which began in the 1990s and now is home to more than 1,700 employees and $330 million in new capital investment.

Eastowne is following a similar public/private partnership approach, with a nonprofit corporation formed to purchase the 350 acres with private funds. Taxpayers — by their votes for the capital improvements tax — are providing the necessary infrastructure to get the sites ready for marketing.

Eastowne, like Mitchell Woods, seeks to address a chief need of firms looking to expand or relocate: availability of a quality site that already has streets and sewers in place and is ready for immediate construction. One drawing we have seen shows at least 20, and possibly more, buildable sites at Eastowne.

Each site holds potential that would not exist without the efforts to bring this project to reality.