As he heads into the May primary, Mayor Nutter is touting his success at bringing jobs to Philadelphia, including an announcement expected Wednesday that Urban Outfitters Inc. will add 1,000 jobs at the Navy Yard over the next three years.
The expansion was expected, as Urban Outfitters, with help from the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. (PIDC), has spent many months assembling parcels at the Navy Yard and ironing out terms to own, lease, or potentially own up to 11 buildings there.
The apparel retailer, whose headquarters are in Philadelphia, had for some time occupied five buildings at the Navy Yard. Nutter's announcement would mark the completion of the company's efforts to secure rights to six more, bringing the total to 11.
The company currently employs about 1,500 people at the Navy Yard, said David Ziel, who oversees store and headquarters construction and development projects for the retailer. Urban Outfitters sells products nationally and overseas under brands including Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, and Terrain.
Ziel said he hoped renovation and construction on two of the newly acquired buildings would be completed by early 2012. The two new buildings would be largely intended to make room for the growing online operations of Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters, Ziel said.
Meanwhile, Nutter is expected to announce Tuesday that a Philadelphia company that had been considering moving will stay in the city, said administration sources who asked not to be identified. The company also may add jobs here over the long run, sources said.
It's all part of what the administration is calling "jobs week."
Nutter is not expected to face a major opponent in the May primary, but he still must campaign and persuade voters to vote for him.
Tuesday, the mayor will attend a groundbreaking at 600 N. Broad St., the address of 98 new loft apartments, two new restaurants from Marc Vetri and Stephen Starr, and a ballroom and catering facility to be run by Joe Volpe, on the site of the former Wilkie Buick/Subaru.
Developer Eric Blumenfeld said the development, which he expects to complete in September, will complement another Vetri restaurant, Osteria, and help revive North Broad between Fairmount and Spring Garden Streets.
Already, he said, apartments he developed nearby at 640 N. Broad St. "have not a single vacancy."
Blumenfeld said the city had helped make the new project happen.
