Josh Shapiro announces $4M investment in a Navy Yard company that pledges to bring 450 new jobs to South Philly

Standing in front of a massive American flag at the Navy Yard the day before Independence Day, Gov. Josh Shapiro embraced a message of freedom and national security while announcing new investment in the waterfront workforce.

Rhoads Industries, a fabrication, installation, and maintenance company, will spend nearly $100 million to expand its footprint at the South Philadelphia Navy Yard with a 95,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. The new building will allow the company to speed up its manufacturing and outfitting for U.S. Navy submarines, and provide access to a pier to barge ship its products.

The state will contribute $4 million to the company’s effort through a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant.

“Thanks to the work that is being done here right now, America’s Navy will continue to protect American interests and advance the cause of freedom against new threats that we face at home and around the globe,” Shapiro said of Rhoads Industries and other companies at the southern waterfront in front of the flag, which rippled amid welcome bursts of wind in the 86-degree heat.

The new facility will speed up the company’s processes, bring more than 450 new jobs to the site, and retain 541 existing full-time positions, according to Shapiro’s office.

The state has previously granted the company more than $17 million in the past decade, and the company also gets tax savings since it’s located in an opportunity zone.

Shapiro said Rhoads is “creating real freedom” for young people in Philadelphia by way of a “school-to-shipyard pipeline,” with a three-year paid apprenticeship program for high school technical education graduates.

Boots Olson, a welding apprentice at the shipyard, said she knew she didn’t want to go to college and instead wanted to work with her hands.

“Don’t get me wrong … this job isn’t for the weak,” Olson said. “Nothing that they teach you will prepare you for how hard it is to get up every day and do this kind of work. But at the end of the day it is one of the most rewarding careers you can choose.”

The new jobs created by the project will bring $44 million in projected new payroll, according to Gregory Deavens, chair of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce board and president and CEO of Independence Health Group. He called it “a game-changing impact on our region.”

Shapiro’s economic development announcement comes amid ongoing budget negotiations in Harrisburg after legislators missed the state’s June 30 deadline.

The governor said that with a divided legislature, “the name of the game is compromise,” and that key players have “a level of trust for one another” as they negotiate how to invest in education, public safety, transportation, and more.

“I’m not suggesting we’ve got all the answers yet, but we’re working through it,” he said.

“Here’s what I can guarantee you about our state budget; it will be a package of compromises, and I’m working very, very hard to make sure that funding for mass transit is part of that compromise package,” he added in response to a question about SEPTA in the wake of the struggling agency’s board slashing nearly half its transit service.

Shapiro visited the Navy Yard in early May to announce $30 million to support the Philadelphia Navy Yard Greenway District development, which is slated to bring manufacturing, life sciences, and commercial uses to the area in hopes of growing the state’s economy. (He also was recently in the neighborhood to cheer on his wife and daughter running the Broad Street Run, he noted.)

Pointing to the planned sports complex the Sixers are pursuing in the South Philly stadium district in lieu of a Center City arena, Shapiro said he is “bullish on the incredible opportunities” for the area.

“I think the entire stretch of the waterfront is poised for explosive growth, and I think it’s one of the most exciting growth opportunities in the entire United States of America,” he said.

There are more than 150 employers and 15,000 jobs at the Navy Yard, according to Shapiro’s office.

Korean shipbuilder Hanwha, another company based in South Philly, is also ramping up investments in the Philly shipyard and plans to use federal subsidies promised by President Donald Trump’s administration to do so.

Shapiro on Thursday also pointed to the state’s recently announced partnership with Amazon, with the tech giant planning to invest an initial $20 billion to build artificial intelligence data centers in the state.

He said that Pennsylvania’s participation in artificial intelligence advancements, like the Navy jobs, is a crucial part of protecting national security.

“Just like the hands of Pennsylvania steelmakers [and] Pennsylvania coal miners helped bring about the arsenal of democracy in prior generations, it is now important that we stop just focusing on the history books when we think about Pennsylvania’s role in national security and start focusing on the future,” he said.

Pennsylvania Rep. Jordan Harris, a Philadelphia Democrat who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, lauded the economic development initiative on the waterfront and emphasized connecting young people to jobs.

“If you want young people to put down guns, help them by picking up a welding tool and giving them a future that they can be proud of, that they can raise their family off, giving them union wages, benefits, and giving them a pension that they can retire to, that’s how you solve crime in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Harris said.

“This is an example of what we need to multiply all across the commonwealth, from Philadelphia to Erie, from Erie to Allentown, and everywhere in between,” added Harris, a key player in budget negotiations.