- The headline: Pensacola is seeking $86 million from Triumph Gulf Coast to attract a major shipbuilder that could bring approximately 2,000 jobs to the city, each paying around $80,000 annually. If approved, this would represent the second-largest Triumph ask ever and would make the shipbuilder potentially the second-largest employer within Pensacola’s city limits.
“This is that 2.0,” Mayor Reeves told host Rick Outzen. “Twenty years ago, we just wanted our kids and grandkids to stay home and have the opportunity to come home. Now we think we’ve built a place where they want to do that.”
But the shipbuilder isn’t the only transformation happening at the 50-acre downtown port. The city also has a $15 million Triumph application pending for a Pensacola Industrial Park and Inland Port, and American Magic’s sailing headquarters will officially open in January. Combined, these projects represent a fundamental shift in how Pensacola views its deepwater port asset.
Mayor Reeves explained that for decades, the debate about the port has been polarized between heavy industrial use and residential development. His administration has charted a different course: finding compatible uses that maximize job creation while maintaining harmony with downtown Pensacola.
- “We had to start having a greater vision for the impact,” Reeves said. “Success at the port is how many jobs and how many livelihoods are we creating?”
The mayor predicts that within five to ten years, Pensacola will have the “luxury of choice” in selecting port tenants—an unprecedented position for a facility that struggled financially just a decade ago.
- Who? Mayor Reeves didn’t disclose the shipbuilder’s name, but we suspect it’s Austal USA. The evidence connects the description—established in 1977, global operations, U.S. headquarters in Denver, four main business divisions, and a trusted partnership with the United States Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security—with Austal USA, a prominent shipbuilder recognized for such attributes.
- The PNJ thinks it might be the Austrian company Birdon.
Listen to the full podcast episode to hear Mayor Reeves discuss the type of shipbuilding planned, how the projects will compound economic development throughout the region, and why this moment represents a renaissance for one of Northwest Florida’s most valuable assets.
