As the Navy Yard marks 25 years of redevelopment – from a sprawling, historic military shipbuilding and repair facility into a corporate center – the leaders behind the effort are hoping they can turn it into Philadelphia’s newest neighborhood.
Later this year, Ensemble Real Estate Investments and Mosaic Development Partners are planning to open the first private residences at the yard, which sits just south of I-95 and the South Philadelphia Sports Complex.
An initial phase, expected to be completed in the summer, will incorporate 614 units – a mix of luxury, market-rate, affordable and full-furnished apartments for those on extended business trips. Ensemble / Mosaic, which was selected by the city as the site’s developer, aims to eventually build 4,000 housing units.
“We have made a huge bet on the Navy Yard,” Brian Cohen, a managing director at Ensemble, said Thursday during an event kicking off the yard’s 25th anniversary.
The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, the city’s public-private development arm, took control of the 1,200-acre property on League Island in March 2000, about four years after the federal government shuttered the shipyard amid widespread base closures.
While the U.S. Navy maintains a limited presence, the area is now better known as being home to Urban Outfitters, Rhoads Industries, Tastykake , a commercial shipyard and dozens of other companies. A major milestone came in 2013, when the number of people employed at the yard reached 10,000 – equalling the amount of jobs lost when the base shut down.
“Philadelphia’s redevelopment of this campus has become a nationally recognized model,” PIDC President Jodie Harris said.
More than 15,000 people currently work there, according to PIDC, and the organization has set a goal of doubling that amount over the next 25 years.
Employees engage in a mix of blue- and white-collar jobs. Forty percent have a high school diploma or GED, while another 40% graduated from college or hold an advanced degree, said Kate McNamara, PIDC’s executive vice president of the Navy Yard.
“There’s a unique split of talent down here,” McNamara added. “I can’t think of many other places you get that combination of experience and education.”
About three-quarters of the 150 businesses at the site have fewer than 20 employees, McNamara added.
Council President Kenyatta Johnson, whose district includes the area, presented PIDC leaders with a resolution declaring March 31 through April 6 “Navy Yard Week.”
“When you come down to the Navy Yard, you will find an example and a model for what other institutions and organizations should be doing when it comes to job growth and development,” he said.
Johnson told attendees at Thursday’s event that lawmakers plan to focus on reforming Philadelphia’s tax structure during upcoming budget talks to spur further business activity and reduce the city’s poverty rate, which ranks highest among the nation’s 10 largest cities.
Mayor Cherelle Parker’s commerce director, Alba Martinez, said the Navy Yard generates $56 million in annual local and state tax revenue. “The redevelopment of this site is one of the biggest economic successes in modern history,” she added.
Harris said “far South Philadelphia” presents a lot of investment opportunity, mentioning the Bellwether District, Sports Complex and Port of Philadelphia, in addition to the yard.
“This area, just minutes from our international airport, represents perhaps the greatest impact for economic growth in the entire Commonwealth (of Pennsylvania),” Harris said.
