Even though Textron Marine and Land has been steadily moving its headquarters from New Orleans East to the DISA building in Slidell, Thursday marked the official opening of the building as Slidell Mayor Ben Morris, Textron General Manager Tom Walmsley and Textron Vice President of Operation J.O. Smith, cut the ribbon on the building.

“This a great day,” Morris told the crowd of Textron employees gathered in front of the massive building. “It’s been a long road getting here.”

Walmsley said the move was necessary after Hurricane Katrina wiped out the company’s main headquarters on Chef Menteur Highway in New Orleans. For two years, the engineering and administrative departments of Textron have been scattered in offices all over the area.

Textron Senior Vice-President and General Manager Tom Walmsley, left, Slidell Mayor Ben Morris, and Textron Vice-President of Operations J.O. Smith cut the ribbon Friday to officially open the DISA building where Textron Marine and Land have set up their headquarters. (Staff Photo by Erik Sanzenbach)

“Getting us all back in one place has been phenomenal,” Walmsley said.

Last April, the city of Slidell and Textron signed a three-year lease to rent out the DISA building on Gause Boulevard that had lain empty since the Department of Defense had left and donated the 100,000-square-foot building to the city.

Textron will pay Slidell $1 million a year in rent for the building that boasts high tech amenities. Originally owned by the Defense Information Systems Agency with the Department of Defense, the building has state-of-the-art fiber optic telephone and computer systems, its own power generator and is built to be bomb-proof and hurricane resistant.

Slidell is also the home of the Textron plant on Front Street that builds armored personnel vehicles for the U.S. Army. Textron just finished construction of a 20,000-square-foot warehouse on Stone Road in north Slidell.

With the move into the Gause Boulevard location, all 600 Textron employees are now in Slidell. Textron public relations director David Whitaker said there are 261 employees in the DISA building, and more are on the way. In fact, there is a bit of a space problem, and there is talk of putting up another building on the site.

What was most important to Textron, an international defense contractor, was getting all its employees back in one spot.

“The consolidation has been great for efficiency and has improved our spirits immensely,” Smith said.

He said 75 percent of Textron employees live in Slidell, and they are all happy they don’t have to drive so far to get to work.

“It’s a much shorter trip,” Smith said with a laugh.

He said compared to the old building in New Orleans, the new headquarters are great.

“It is very nice,” Smith said. “I like the campus environment. It feels good to be working here.”

To say Morris was pleased about the move is an understatement. He knows the addition of Textron to the city will increase sales and property taxes, add more jobs to the workforce and put Slidell on the economic map.

“We really appreciate the fact that you are here. Welcome to Slidell,” Morris said.