ALLIANCE, Ohio -- In the middle of all the bleak economic news surrounding manufacturing jobs, there's a glimmer of hope.

NewsChannel5's Brad Harvey reported that a massive steel foundry in Alliance is about to reopen, bringing with it hundreds of jobs.

Buddy Dyer is remodeling a home in the shadow of the old American Steel Plant. His grandfather worked there, and now he hopes to find a job with the new company.

"I think it's (going to) be great because we'll have lots of jobs opening up," he said. "'Cause with American Steel shutting down, it's just not good for the area."

American Railcar Industries already has crews on-site preparing to reopen the plant. It will make parts for railcars, bringing more than 350 jobs back to the facility.

For a century, it has been one of the most important employers in a town literally named for a railroad intersection.

"Fathers, grandfathers, sons, uncles, brothers have all worked down there," said Mayor Toni Middleton. "There's a great emotional tie."

American Railcar originally was interested only in buying the equipment out of the old plant. But when it showed an interest in the plant itself, the city went into instant sales mode.

Most impressive of all, Alliance beat out not only several other cities in the United States, but also Mexico. So often the news is about losing manufacturing jobs south of the border, and Alliance said it takes great pride in turning that around.

"In terms of competing with Mexico, we had something that they don't have," said planning director Vincent Marion. "And that's an educated job pool in the industry."