ARDMORE, OKLA -- There's talk of expanding the Oklahoma Army National Guard's presence in the Ardmore area. The Oklahoma National Guard is proposing to build an Armed Forces Reserve Center that would be home to the National Guard and the Army Reserve.

Top commanders with the Oklahoma Army National Guard met with Ardmore leaders Monday morning. The Guard wants to expand its operations in Ardmore, and partner with the Army Reserves to build an Armed Forces Reserve Center. Almost everyone agrees the new center would have a positive impact on the community. Now the question is - where to build it?

The Oklahoma Army National Guard has been a fixture of the Ardmore Community for more than 70 years.

"It's just a great location. We've always had a very positive relationship with the city of Ardmore and the local communities,” said Maj. Larry Marcy with the Oklahoma Army National Guard.

Since the old Armory shut down years ago, the Guard is being housed in temporary buildings. But officers are looking to change that, by partnering with the Army Reserves to build an Armed Forces Reserves Center.

"It brings some economic impact to the community, it helps us maintain a presence - we'd be visible within the community, we'd be readily accessible to the community. There’s benefits to both the community side and our side as well,” Maj. Marcy said.

The center could look similar to this one and according to statistics from the Guard, could add more than $700,000 a year to the local economy.

But building the Armed Forces Reserve Center would require at least 50 acres of land.

"The Ardmore Development Authority has some prospects. They're in the process of identifying those areas. Then we are going to present those to the National Guard to see if they're interested in any of those. Then we can go forward. This is kind of an initial step to identify their needs and see if we can meet their needs and I’m really optimistic that we can,” Ardmore City Manger, J.D. Spohn said.

The new facility would cost around $35 million and would be paid for in part with federal funds.

While it's clear a new Armed Forces Reserve Center is at least a couple years away, the planning process is underway.

"We're talking 3-5 years before you saw groundbreaking. But you have to start somewhere and right now for us it's looking for land,” Maj. Marcy said.

The next step is meeting again with the Ardmore Development Authority to talk more about possible land options. The Oklahoma National Guard tells us they're on the ADA's next agenda - a meeting scheduled in June.