A large blaze is burning fuel at a Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery while firefighters battle a fire there. The wind carried the black smoke into residential areas of South Philadelphia.

The nationwide real estate development and investment firm with more than 150 properties in 28 States is the third company to Express an interest in buying Philadelphia Energy Solutions ‘ refinery in South Philadelphia.

Ryan O’callaghan of United Steelworkers Local 10-1, which represents about 640 now-laid-off refinery workers, said he met with representatives from California industrial Realty Group LLC and Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., to discuss IRG’s Proposal to add a 1,400-acre refinery to its portfolio.

“They buy closed industrial properties and repurpose them either for what they used to be, or for warehouses or something else,” O’callaghan said, describing Industrial Realty Group’s business model.

In an email, Lauren Crumrin, marketing Director at Industrial Realty Group, said, ” IRG has no comment regarding the property.”

The IRG website says the company specializes in upgrading commercial and industrial real estate, including military bases and brownfield and Superfund sites, for productive use, “solving some of the toughest real estate challenges in America.” The company is then leased to tenants such as Goodyear and General Electric.

Projects featured on the website include a business Park offering with 2.3 million square feet of space on the former brown site and rubber plant complex in Akron, Ohio; an 8.5 million square foot commercial mixed-use complex at the former air force base in Sacramento, California; and a 450,000 square foot shopping center at the former NASA facility in Downey, California.

The Downey site was first developed in a film Studio. By 2009, film workers claimed they were sick after spending time there, but IRG chief Executive Stuart Lichter and insurance companies rejected any connection, the Los Angeles Times reported. The IRG website says the studios were demolished in 2012 and that further environmental remediation has been carried out at the site.

In February this year, IRG acquired three industrial properties with logistics, distribution and manufacturing assets: a 726,292-square-foot complex with 13 commercial buildings near Columbus, Ohio international airport; and two properties in Texas, adding 65.7 acres.

Philadelphia Energy Solutions closed the refinery in late June after a massive fire and explosion damaged part of the facility. PES entered part 11 bankruptcy in July, for the second time in less than two years.

The city has set up its refinery Advisory group to gather information from a variety of stakeholders, including a business Committee, to gain insight into how the site could be used in the future. But the site is privately owned and the city has limited control over it.

Two other companies have expressed interest in acquiring the facility: Philadelphia energy industries, created by former PES CEO Phil Rinaldi, whom environmentalists have dubbed ” Fossil Phil;” and SG Preston, a Philadelphia-based biofuel company that an article published Wednesday by Real News Network called “Flim Flam” in its headline.

Any sale of the refinery complex would be subject to approval by the U.S. bankruptcy court in Wilmington.

“We want to work for those who can have the same number of jobs or even expand that, “United Steelworkers” O’callaghan said.

StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration between WITF, WHY, WESA, and Allegheny front. Reporters reed Fraser and Susan Phillips cover the Commonwealth’s energy economy. Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations throughout Pennsylvania.

This joint project is funded, among other things, by grants From the Corporation for public broadcasting, the Wincott Foundation and the William Penn Foundation.

StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration between WITF, WHY, WESA, and Allegheny front. Reporters reed Fraser and Susan Phillips cover the Commonwealth’s energy economy. Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations throughout Pennsylvania.

This joint project is funded, among other things, by grants From the Corporation for public broadcasting, the Wincott Foundation and the William Penn Foundation.

StateImpact Pennsylvania is a collaboration between WITF, WHY, WESA, and Allegheny front. Reporters reed Fraser and Susan Phillips cover the Commonwealth’s energy economy. Read their reports on this site, and hear them on public radio stations throughout Pennsylvania.

This joint project is funded, among other things, by grants From the Corporation for public broadcasting, the Wincott Foundation and the William Penn Foundation.