Tasty Baking is moving operations to Navy Yard

The Tasty Baking Co., makers of Tastykakes, will move its operations and headquarters from Nicetown to the Navy Yard in three years, but 215 jobs will be eliminated during the transition, company officials said yesterday.

The positions will be cut through attrition and a reduction in the use of temporary employees, said the company's president and chief executive officer, Charles P. Pizzi.

"We will manage that by managing attrition of our employees, as well as cutting away temporary employees so to protect and minimize the impact on our full-time employees," he said.

Construction will begin by fall 2008 and be completed by fall 2009, Pizzi said. The site is expected to be operational in 2010.

Tasty Baking has received $122 million in commitments from the city, state and three banks - Citizens, Sovereign and Bank of America - to help fund the project, said David S. Marberger, company chief financial officer.

The bank group has committed $90 million, and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. and the state have provided $32 million in low-interest development loans, Marberger said.

"It's a great day for our employees, our shareholders, our customers and Philadelphia," Pizzi said.

"It was always our preference to stay in the city."

The company will invest the government's loans and another $43 million into new baking equipment and other costs related to establishing the 345,500-square-foot site, Marberger said.

The new headquarters will be at 26th Street and Penrose Avenue and include a baking facility, a warehouse and a distribution center on 25 acres.

Tasty Baking signed an agreement with Liberty Property/Synterra Limited Partnership to pay about $6 million annually to lease the facilities. *