A new plan for the Navy Yard would add residential, commercial, and retail space to ‘create a new community’

The development team behind the revitalization of 109 acres at the Philadelphia Navy Yard announced a plan Tuesday to bring $6 billion in investment to the site over the next 20 years, with the hope of creating a new neighborhood in the city.

The plan is estimated to bring 12,000 new jobs to the Navy Yard, as well as 8.9 million square feet of residential, commercial, retail, and mixed-use space. In total, developers Mosaic Development Partners and Ensemble Real Estate Investments plan to build nearly 4,000 residential units and 235,000 square feet of retail and maker space at the South Philadelphia site under the deal the companies have with the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., which manages the Navy Yard on the city’s behalf.

With those additions, the hope is to create a “real Philadelphia neighborhood with density, mix, and a broadly appealing identity” that will become “one of the world’s foremost urban transformations,” said James Corner, founder of James Corner Field Operations, which developed the plan.

Tuesday’s announcement unveiled a new version of an initial plan from last year that called for a $2.5 billion investment to develop three million square feet of space at the site. The latest plan builds on the area’s designation as a base for health and life sciences by going beyond office, manufacturing, and laboratory space.

Now, the idea is to “create a new community,” Corner said, complete with 37 acres of open space for recreation, a more developed waterfront along the Delaware River, and hospitality space totaling 440,000 square feet. There are also plans for 1.5 million square feet of life science and manufacturing facilities, 2.8 million square feet of office and laboratory space, and 250,000 square feet of retail and market space.

“In sum, the 2022 plan update envisions the neighborhood as the best of what a mixed-use campus and city neighborhood can be — green resilient, mixed, diverse, inclusive, welcoming, and vibrant,” Corner said.

The Ensemble-Mosaic team previously announced a commitment to an equitable, inclusive development at the Navy Yard, pledging to use $1 billion to hire workers and contractors from underrepresented groups, as well as institute other diversity and inclusion measures over the next two decades. The design and planning process has so far involved more than a dozen companies owned by underrepresented groups and women, with about 49% of project costs to date having gone to those companies, PIDC said in a statement.

Ensemble-Mosaic intends to set aside 15% of the site’s apartments to be offered at affordable rates, and subsidize 25% of retail for businesses owned by underrepresented groups and woman. The team also hopes to expand accessibility for the Navy Yard with new bike lanes, bus rapid transit routes, pedestrian-only plazas and streets, and a new gateway to the area at its Broad Street entrance.

“The Navy Yard has been an anchor and economic driver for Philadelphia for more than two centuries,” Mayor Jim Kenney said. “I look forward to its bright future for continued investment, entrepreneurship, and employment in Philadelphia.”

In addition to the plan announcement, the developers and PIDC celebrated the 64 graduates of the Navy Yard Skills Initiative, a job training program that the organization launched alongside the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative in 2020. Since then, graduates have gone on to find full-time careers at Navy Yard-based companies such as Philly Shipyard Inc. and Tastykake.