ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Triumph Gulf Coast Board Approves Term Sheet For $76 Million Birdon Grant

The City of Pensacola clears the second of three Triumph Gulf Coast hurdles needed to land a 2,000-job shipbuilding facility at the Port of Pensacola.

The City of Pensacola has earned the second of three approvals from the Triumph Gulf Coast Board of Directors needed to finalize a $76 million grant that would transform the Port of Pensacola and fuel the creation of 2,000 jobs.

• On Monday, June 22, the Board of Triumph Gulf Coast approved the term sheet for the grant it approved in January to establish shipbuilder Birdon America Inc.’s Southeastern headquarters and a Tier 2 advanced ship manufacturing facility in Pensacola. The term sheet outlines the components of the grant agreement.

The facility would create 2,000 jobs, with 1,437 jobs at an average salary of $68,000 annually and 563 jobs at an average salary of $112,000.

“I am grateful to the team at the City who worked tirelessly to get us to this point. Today, we are one step closer to bringing this transformational project to life at our Port. We’re focused on building Pensacola’s future and Triumph’s investment helps us do just that.” — Mayor D.C. Reeves

The next major milestone is approval of the grant agreement, which Reeves said the City hopes to bring to the Triumph Board later this summer. After that would be lease terms between the City and Birdon, both of which require Pensacola City Council approval.

When fully approved, this investment will support a 400,000 square-foot shipbuilding facility at the port, strengthen the local economy, and support U.S. military interests through the production of critical modules for ships and submarines.

It will become the largest job creation project in the city’s history and would be one of the largest grants approved by Triumph Gulf Coast, the nonprofit corporation created to manage funds recovered for economic damages from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Next Steps

The total project cost is $275 million, with contributions expected from Triumph, the Florida Job Growth Fund ($14 million), the U.S. Department of Commerce ($33 million), and Birdon ($152 million).

Triumph funding will be used for construction costs associated with two new shipbuilding facilities at the port. The $105 million construction program includes a Phase 1 panel line and module fabrication warehouse and a Phase 2 assembly bay, together housing advanced ship manufacturing and office space.

The city will retain ownership of the facilities as public infrastructure and will enter into a long-term ground lease with Birdon America Inc. for its use. Established in 1977, Birdon is a globally established maritime engineering and shipbuilding company with over 15 years of proven performance delivering major defense contracts for the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and allied defense forces worldwide.

Dig Deeper: The new facility will produce complex Navy ship modules for Tier 1 yards, submarine modules, and complete surface vessels up to 400 feet, directly supporting the federal objective of restoring America’s maritime dominance and expanding the U.S. maritime industrial base.