Philly jobs, going and coming

My long-ago teacher Ted Hershberg, a scholar of urban growth and decay, liked to point out the that what sealed the fates of old industrial cities like Philadelphia -- did they decline like Detroit, or move ahead like Boston? -- wasn't how many factories and offices shut down, but how many new employers opened and expanded to replace the departed industries.

How's Philadelphia doing, on the eve of Mayor Kenney?

- We've been losing corporate headquarters: When a colleague asked me recently to name publicly-traded companies that had lately moved their main offices to Philadelphia, I pointed to two -- Hill International, the construction project manager, which moved over from Marlton; and Axalta, the DuPont Co. spin-off brought here by investor Carlyle Group in its recent Pennsylvania period.

But I could also think of five that pulled out of the city in the past two years: chemical makers Arkema (which moved to King of Prussia), Dow Chemical's Advanced Materials Division (successor to Rohm and Haas, it left its landmark Independence Hall building to consolidate in Spring House), and Sunoco (gone to Newtown Square); plus health insurer Cigna (once Philadelphia's largest publicly-traded company; gone to Connecticut, with reduced back offices still here), and clothing-maker Destination Maternity (Moorestown, N.J.)

- Factory shutdowns: We've lately written sad obituaries for the Mondelez (ex-Nabisco) bakery in Northeast Philadelphia, whose closing idled more than 200 (following the Hostess shutdown a year ago); the pending Perfecseal (medical packaging) and Alkore (ex-Tyco; electrical equipment) shutdowns, also in Northeast Philadelphia, idling more than 200 each; Amoroso Baking Co.'s long-rumored move to South Jersey, ending 200 Philadelphia jobs.

- Plus we're still losing banking jobs, more than a decade after the last of the traumatic deals that left the city devoid of the major banks that once powered the regional economy: 120 gone from Wells Fargo & Co. last winter; 280 later this year at Bank of New York Mellon, both in Center City (Mellon expects to "redeploy" the workers to other sites in King of Prussia and Wilmington. The company has been cutting jobs under pressure from investors like Nelson Peltz's Trian, which has also pressured for cuts at DuPont and Mondelez (both of which have shut Philly factories in recent years).

And we're bracing for news at Ace Ltd., which plans to combine functions from its largest office center, in Philadelphia, with Chubb Corp.'s North Jersey headquarters, and to cut costs.

I ran this sad litany past city officials. Luke Butler of the Commerce Department sent back this good-news list:
-- "'WuXi AppTec (medical testing) just broke ground on another new building at the Navy Yard and will add another 375 employees to their current workforce of 250. 
-- "Revzilla (motorcycle accessories) is also growing fast down at the Navy Yard and is currently over 200 employees;
-- "Dietz and Watson (cold cuts) is building a $50m distribution facility in North East Philadelphia which will add around 160 new jobs."

He could have added Penn Financial, Iroko and Franklin Square, which have also added people at their Navy Yard offices.

Smaller expansions at Philadelphia Financial, EisnerAmper and Hill's new HQ (after the company fought off an activist-investor takeover bid) added a total of 400 jobs here; among private and not-for-profit employers, architects HOK and the American Bible Society moved headquarters here, adding another 250; Comcast's new Innovation and Technology Center will house 1,500; and Mayor Nutter plans two more announcements soon, by companies that will add another 300 jobs, Butler adds.

With jobs still leaving, Philly has to run hard to stay in place, let alone get ahead.