Five state-supervised brownfield cleanup efforts were completed by the end of last year, enabling development projects or other work to proceed in downtown Buffalo, North Buffalo, the West Side, Lackawanna and West Seneca.
Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. reported that it finished achieving cleanup requirements at 201 Ellicott St., where it is building a 201-unit affordable housing building and an urban grocery in downtown.
The developer said it excavated and disposed of 50,971 tons of impacted soil and fill material, replacing it with clean soil, and also removed three 500-gallon underground storage tanks, according to a report from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
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In North Buffalo, Rocco Termini's Signature Buffalo Development said it finished remediating contamination at 140 Chandler St., where he's planning to bring in a restaurant as part of his development of the Chandler Pool Club.
According to the DEC, Termini took out 4,750 cubic yards of polluted soil, removed and disposed of a 2,500-gallon underground storage tank, cleaned out asbestos from the 2,500-square-foot building on the site, and took out other tanks, contaminated containers and concrete from the half-acre site.
On the West Side, D'Youville College completed its cleanup at 301 Connecticut St., where it's constructing its new 59,860-square-foot Health Professions Hub.
Contractors demolished and removed two buildings, a parking lot and in-ground structures that previously occupied the 0.86-acre site, took out three underground storage tanks, and excavated 16,423 tons of polluted soil.
The $25 million education and clinical project features a three-story building – already under construction – with a community clinic with 20 exam rooms, a medically oriented gym, a workforce development center, a virtual simulation training center, a campus event center, classrooms, coworking spaces and a 25-seat cafe on the first floor.
To the east, Rosina Food Products dug up and removed 45,850 tons of contaminated soil at 3100 Clinton St. in West Seneca, and replaced it with clean fill, as part of its $58 million project to construct a new food manufacturing plant on the 10-acre site to make frozen meatballs, sausage and toppings.
The project at an abandoned railroad yard will shift some production from an older facility in Cheektowaga and bring work that was outsourced to a meat packer in Chicago, creating 40 jobs.
And in Lackawanna, Time Release Properties – an affiliate of TMP Technologies – said it removed 185 cubic yards of soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) at the Tecumseh Phase II Business Park at 6 Dona St.
It then replaced the polluted dirt with clean fill, treated other petroleum-impacted soil, and will maintain a site-cover system that includes its new buildings and pavement, as well as a foot of soil.
TMP – which makes cleaning products like Magic Eraser, as well as specialty foam, rubber and plastics – is investing $22.7 million at the former Bethlehem Steel site to build a manufacturing and distribution facility on 28 acres that it purchased for $1.05 million just over a year ago from an affiliate of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency.
The company is relocating its current operations from a 120,000-square-foot facility on Dingens Street to the 280,000-square-foot plant, which would employ at least 103 initially while adding another 50 jobs over several years. TMP is keeping its administrative offices on Northland Avenue in Buffalo, and would also retain operations in Wyoming, N.Y.
Meanwhile, cleanup work is poised to begin at the Pilgrim Village low-income housing community just north of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, where developer SAA-EVI is proposing to conduct soil and groundwater sampling to identify any possible contamination or storage tanks at 1100 Michigan Ave. and 951 Ellicott St. The work plan is being reviewed by the DEC.
The developer plans to replace several clusters of low-rise garden-style townhouse apartments with a pair of larger multifamily buildings that would include 230 units. One would contain 132 affordable apartments aimed at families on 2.72 acres, while the other would have 98 affordable senior apartments on 1.91 acres.
