PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — A global company founded by Bill Gates has selected a long-vacant South Philadelphia site – once home to the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery – for a new $450 million manufacturing facility that will produce rare medical isotopes used in cancer-fighting drugs.
City officials say the project by TerraPower Isotopes marks a major step in transforming the former refinery land, which many residents still associate with the 2019 explosion and fire that shook surrounding neighborhoods. The new facility means new life for the area.
“It’s a really big deal!” said Karen Fegely, the city’s commerce director, about the new development.
Fegely said Philadelphia’s growing life sciences sector helped secure the project after officials with TerraPower considered sites across the country.
“They chose to locate here in Philadelphia because we have so much of this great research and science and life sciences industry here in Philadelphia,” she said.
A rendering shows the planned flagship facility, which will be built on part of the site now known as The Bellwether District.
The land, owned by the company formerly known as Hilco and now renamed HRP Group, has undergone years of environmental cleanup and remediation that has been regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. EPA.
For community members like Shawmar Pitts of Philly Thrive – an environmental justice group that spent years protesting the refinery – the memory of the explosion remains vivid.
“It just blew up!” he said. “That day was like one of those days you’ve always dreaded, and then you say, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s happening.'”
Pitts said the group wants to ensure the redevelopment benefits nearby residents.
“We want a community benefits agreement,” he said, adding that Philly Thrive also wants to continue to ensure that the land is safe. The group had long advocated for a business that is not a refinery to be located on the land. The TerraPower facility is in line with the types of businesses that Philly Thrive thinks are acceptable.
City officials say the TerraPower Isotopes project will bring more than 225 jobs and help reshape the area into an industrial and innovation hub.
“It’s really exciting to see this new life at Bellwether District,” Fegely said. “It’s a really important time and a really important opportunity for Philadelphia.”
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is investing $10 million in the project and offering tax incentives. TerraPower Isotopes is expected to begin operations in 2029.
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