Port of Pensacola / Economic Development
This morning at the Port of Pensacola, Gov. Ron DeSantis presented Mayor D.C. Reeves with a $9 million state Job Growth Grant. The funds are designated for a new boat-building facility, which state and local officials believe will significantly boost Pensacola’s maritime economy.
Details: The grant covers site development, utilities, and facility construction for a new 400,000-square-foot manufacturing building at the port, which will be built on land between American Magic’s headquarters and The Fish House.
- Birdon America will lease the facility to produce complex Navy ship modules for submarines and surface ships up to 400 feet long.
“I’m proud to say today we will be awarding $9 million to the City of Pensacola to support the construction of a new boat building facility here at the port,” DeSantis said.
Background: In addition to the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund award, the City of Pensacola also secured a $76 million grant from Triumph Gulf Coast to support this project. In 2023, Governor DeSantis awarded $3.9 million through the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund to the City of Pensacola to facilitate infrastructure improvements at the Port of Pensacola—establishing American Magic’s High Performance Center, which opened in January 2026.
Big Picture: The governor noted Florida has 21 military installations and 16 deepwater seaports, and that the maritime industry accounts for roughly $20 billion in gross domestic product and more than a million direct and indirect jobs statewide.
- Florida ranks No. 1 in the nation for workforce development, DeSantis said
- More than 20% of the nation’s shipbuilding workforce is based in Florida
- The new facility is projected to create approximately 2,000 manufacturing and related jobs
$40 Million Federal Apprenticeship Grant in Play
Florida Commerce Secretary Alex Kelly tied the port investment to a broader workforce push.
- He said the state recently received a $40 million Apprenticeship Performance Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, focused on the defense industrial base, specifically shipbuilding.
Workforce Summit: Kelly said state and local officials will reconvene in Pensacola later this month to dig into implementation—bringing in educators, workforce partners, and industry leaders, including the University of West Florida, Pensacola State College, and Rick Harper of the Triumph Gulf Coast. Mayor Reeves has been touting this summit for weeks.
“The Single Largest Job Creation Project Pensacola’s Seen”
Mayor Reeves positioned the grant as validation of his economic development strategy.
“This $9 million Job Growth Grant fund award is a massive vote of confidence in Pensacola,” Reeves said, thanking Kelly and former State Sen. Doug Broxton by name as the two people he said have been most impactful to his administration’s success.
- Reeves said the Birdon America project, at full build-out, represents a $275 million investment that would make the company the port’s largest employer and the single largest job creation project in Pensacola’s history.
Reeves noted the timing lines up with NAS Pensacola’s 200th anniversary this year, calling the port project “a powerful new chapter” in the city’s identity as a Navy town.