The growing shipbuilding industry in Philadelphia's Navy Yard is getting a boost from the world's largest bank.
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JPMorgan Chase is providing $24M in loans, investments and grants to shipbuilding and maritime manufacturing initiatives in Philadelphia, it announced Wednesday.
The largest of those initiatives is a new 95K SF submarine manufacturing and assembly facility in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. JPMorgan is providing $13M in new markets tax credit equity, part of a larger $40M transaction.
The project, built by Roads Industries, is expected to create 450 jobs. It is the latest in a series of investments in the area.
Last summer, South Korean shipbuilding firm Hanwha committed to invest $5B to expand its operations in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. That expansion, announced during South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's visit with President Donald Trump, would increase its annual output from two vessels to 20.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon cited Hanwha's expansion as a catalyst for the area in a Wednesday CNBC interview about his firm's investment.
"We're sitting at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where they built ships that won the Revolutionary War, that helped win World War II," Dimon said. "So now the arsenal of democracy has been reignited."
JPMorgan's announcement coincided with the two-day Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit at the Army War College in Carlisle, where Trump spoke Wednesday.
In addition to the investment in the new submarine facility, JPMorgan is providing a $5M low-cost loan and a $1.5M grant to PIDC Community Capital, an arm of Philadelphia's economic development organization, to support small businesses in the maritime sector.
It is also providing a pair of grants for workforce training efforts: $2.4M to the Greater Philadelphia Growth Partnership and $2M to The Skills Initiative at University City District.
"The Navy Yard has long been one of the most important economic engines in our city, and today’s investment by JPMorganChase is about building the next generation of opportunity," Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said in a statement.
"By strengthening our shipbuilding industry, investing in workforce development, and supporting small businesses, we’re creating pathways to family-sustaining careers while reinforcing Philadelphia’s role as a leader in American manufacturing."
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