Twenty-six years should be long enough to figure out if you like where you work.

Steuben Foods, which has been making and packaging yogurt and other comestibles in rented digs in the Town of Elma since 1983, has decided to buy the place from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency. It’s very good news for the community and, as the company plans to add to its operations and work force, a clear success for the ECIDA.

It began with a 786,000-square-foot shell of an industrial building being thrown up near Route 400 in the early 1970s. It was supposed to become a new home for Western Electric. But that company, then in the Town of Tonawanda, gave up on the idea before finishing the building or even having all the necessary roads and utilities put in.

The structure sat empty for more than a decade, an embarrassing reminder of what might have been, before the ECIDA led efforts to put some life into the place.

The agency bought the building in 1980, its first such project, and put together a menu of incentives that included completing the necessary infrastructure and a chunk of low-cost electricity from the New York Power Authority. It was enough to get Steuben to move in, with an initial work force of 125 people.

The operation has grown significantly since, making dairy and soy-based drinks as well as puddings and broths that sell under a variety of brand and store labels. It now employs 475 people and, with the purchase of the facility, has plans to add more workers and expand its production.

This is all a textbook —if a very long textbook —example of how a local industrial development agency should function. Match unused potential with unmet need, facilitate the development of normal government functions such as road construction, seek available incentives, then sell all the real estate involved to private ownership and move on to other projects.

Ideally, perhaps, Steuben would have bought the building without such a long test-drive. But it is still a significant success for the agency and the town, as a major employer puts down some significant roots for the future.