South Philly Review

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Ten years ago this month, the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., (PIDC) acquired the Navy Yard site in the hopes of ushering in a new era on such historic grounds. As the saying goes, history has a way of repeating itself.

Some big-named tenants are now calling the 1,200-acre site home, and to some city officials, the news is cause for celebration — or perhaps, reason to consume a Tastykake Krimpet. The Tasty Baking Co., which produces the delectable pastry and other Philly favorites, has invested more than $1 million in the construction of their new environmentally friendly distribution complex and bakery, which is expected to be fully operational by next year. Retailer Urban Outfitters is expanding operations, and HelioSphera, a Greek manufacturer of solar panels, recently announced the Navy Yard will house its U.S. production facility.

“Green” is the new buzzword at the Navy Yard, which now employs 7,000 people and has 5.5 million square feet of building space. Complementing the manicured lawns and LEED-certified buildings is the notion of a Clean Energy Campus, a consortium combining academia, the private sector and federal entities with a focus on smart grid energy, energy-efficient buildings, as well as power distribution and management.

“The idea is to attract federal research, private investment and commercialized new technologies,” PIDC Senior Vice President John Grady said. “HelioSphera is an outcome of those sets of partners coming together.”

The company will use its $5 million investment to create a 350,000-square-foot facility that produces 1.2 million solar modules per year. Construction is expected to begin within the next 12 months and is in line with Mayor Michael Nutter’s goal of transforming Philadelphia into the country’s greenest city. The Greenworks Philadelphia initiative aims to reduce the city’s vulnerability to rising energy costs, assess its environmental footprint, deliver more equitable access to neighborhoods and support sustainability.

“Consistent with our Greenworks Philadelphia plan, the [HelioSphera] project expects to bring as many as 500 new entry, manufacturing and professional level jobs,” Nutter spokesman Doug Oliver said. “The city and PIDC will continue to work with HelioSphera to refine their financing and construction plans and do our part to see that they are up and running as soon as possible.”

HelioSphera “looked all over the country to establish their U.S. headquarters,” Grady added. “They chose this site because of all the assets we have at the Navy Yard — access to university research, access to a diverse workforce and the ability to distribute their product nationally through the city’s distribution network.”

Further greening its image, the Navy Yard’s west end will also house a “solar center” on a seven-acre Brownfield site. The 5,500 solar panels will produce approximately 1.5 megawatts of electricity (enough to power several hundred homes) that will feed back to the city’s electrical grid. And Penn State University’s College of Engineering also is placing the environment at the forefront thanks to grant funding from the U.S. Department of Energy last year. The college has established two research centers at the Navy Yard; one in particular—the Mid-Atlantic Solar Workforce Center—aims to support the workforce needed to manufacture, produce and maintain solar technology.

“The big picture here is that the federal government will be investing billions of dollars into research and commercialization of energy-efficient technologies,” Grady said. “The set of partners that has coalesced at the Navy Yard … give the city and region a real powerful chance to attract a lot of that federal money into Philadelphia and develop an economy around engineering and energy.”

Also taking a greener approach to construction, Tastykake, which is still in the process of transitioning from its Hunting Park location to its new site, has constructed a LEED-certified, 345,000-square-foot facility. Corporate employees have been working at the new site for about a year, and everyone else should follow by next year, Autumn Bayles, senior vice president for strategic operations said.

“The company was founded in Philadelphia, so it was important for us to stay committed to the city,” Bayles said. “We also needed [a location] that economically made sense to our stockholders. The city and state made that happen for us.”

The extension of 26th Street from the Penrose Avenue and Schuylkill Expressway intersection leading to the new bakery/distribution center will be completed by this spring. What’s also interesting about that area of the Navy Yard, Grady noted, is that the new infrastructure can support up to 300,000 square feet of additional manufacturing and industrial space.

Similarly, Urban Outfitters is taking advantage of the spacious conditions. Already occupying five buildings totaling 300,000 square feet, the company acquired a 50,000-square-foot building last year and is in the midst of investing $15 million for its refurbishment and infrastructure improvements. In addition to its Anthropologie, Free People and Terrain brands, the company plans to offer wedding attire for its hipster clientele in the near future.

“One of the nice things we’ve seen is that the Navy Yard is emerging as a microcosm of the city,” Grady said. “You have this large site that has a lot of scale and capacity to it, and we can accommodate large-scale manufacturing, but have that level of amenity and support for the office user and [research and development] worker. Providing those amenities allows us to have those mix of uses that is pretty unique.”