Philly-based firm considers major development in Navy Yard

A Philadelphia-based coating company may build a research and development facility at the Navy Yard.

Axalta Coating Systems is reportedly interested in setting up shop at the South Broad Street campus.

Officials with the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, which manages operations for the Navy Yard, would not disclose any details.

Neither would Axalta.

“It’s just too early to talk about it,” said spokesman Matt Winoker.

In its heyday, the Philadelphia Navy Yard was a hub of industrial activity.

Today, it’s more of an office park, but adding research and development facilities is also a big part of the expanse’s rebirth.

“We see R&D as an opportunity for continued expansion and growth,” said John Grady, president of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. “The opportunity to pair R&D with manufacturing activity and with more traditional office space and to build partnerships with academic institutions and government research facilities as well.”

A third of the Navy Yard’s 1,200-acre campus is devoted to R&D, said Grady.

The Axalta facility would replace the company’s existing one in the U.S. Winoker said the company hopes to choose a location in the Greater Philadelphia area “fairly soon.”

The international outfit’s products are used for car paint, inside oil pipelines and on fire hydrants.