Bigger, Greener Commerce Park Seen

by John F. Bonfatti

Officials plan to make the emerging industrial park on the city's southern border bigger and more beautiful.

The Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park, built on the former brownfield site where Hanna Furnace once operated, will nearly double in size after Buffalo Urban Development Corp. authorized the purchase of two adjacent parcels totaling 100 acres Thursday.

Separately, state, city and county officials announced that a $6.03 million state grant will help fund the cleanup and development of recreational parkland around the Union Ship Canal, which juts into the Commerce Park from Buffalo Harbor.

"In the city of Buffalo, developable land is at a premium,"Mayor Byron W. Brown said. "This will give us an opportunity to market the city to more businesses."

The recreational parkland is planned for a 200-foot band around the canal, which was built in the early 1900s for barges carrying raw material for pig iron manufacturing.

Contaminated with heavy metals and semi-volatile organic compounds, the site will be cleaned up by removing debris from the land and canal bottom, covering the site with clean soil and grading it.

Once remediated, the parkland will contain grass, landscaped paths and shrubs.

"The $6 million will be used by the city to create a gathering place for the hundreds and hopefully thousands of new employees who will be working at Buffalo Lakeside Commerce Park," Brown said.

The area will have some parking. Eventually, a pedestrian bridge is planned to be built over the canal, which will also contain a fish hatching habitat.

The sale of the two adjacent parcels, which has yet to be finalized, will cost about $1.35 million.

The park began with 80 acres of remediated land and already has two major tenants, CertainTeed and Cobey Inc.

State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Denise M. Sheehan, who announced the $6 million grant, also announced a $3.24 million grant that will be used to help demolish the former Spaulding Fibre factory site on Wheeler Street in the City of Tonawanda.