Florida will provide $9 million to the city of Pensacola for infrastructure improvements supporting two new shipbuilding facilities at the Port of Pensacola, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday.
The funding, awarded through the Florida Job Growth Grant Fund, will support site development, utilities and facility construction tied to an advanced shipbuilding and maritime manufacturing operation known as Project Maeve.
The project is expected to include about 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space and support approximately 2,000 manufacturing and related jobs, according to the governor’s office.
State officials said the expanded facilities will increase the port’s capacity to produce complex modules for U.S. Navy submarines and surface ships, including vessels measuring up to 400 feet long. The project is part of a broader effort to expand domestic maritime manufacturing capacity as demand grows across the national shipbuilding industrial base.
Pensacola has also secured a $76 million grant from Triumph Gulf Coast to support the project, adding to the public funding committed toward the port expansion.
The latest award follows a $3.9 million Florida Job Growth Grant Fund allocation to Pensacola in 2023 for infrastructure improvements at the port. That funding supported development of a High-Performance Maritime Center of Excellence and helped attract American Magic, which opened its High Performance Center in Pensacola in January.
Florida officials have increasingly emphasized maritime manufacturing as an economic development priority, citing the state’s network of deepwater seaports, military installations and shipbuilding businesses.
The Florida Job Growth Grant Fund provides state money for public infrastructure and workforce training projects intended to support economic development. Since 2019, the program has awarded more than $341 million and supported projects that the state says are associated with nearly 45,500 new jobs and more than 34,000 workforce education opportunities.