Must-read local business coverage that exposes the trends, connects the dots and contextualizes the impact to Buffalo's economy.
This site at 3401 Military Road in the Town of Niagara is being considered by Uniland Development Co. for a new 150,000-square-foot warehouse project for a Canadian firm.
As Uniland Development Co. continues construction on a new industrial warehouse in Lackawanna, with plans to start a second one next door, the Amherst-based developer is taking aim at a third one, this time in Niagara County.
But unlike the other two, this one is aimed at one tenant – a Canadian firm whose U.S. operation would relocate from nearby Wheatfield.
Uniland is proposing to construct a new single-story industrial building with 150,000 square feet of space at 3401 Military Road in the Town of Niagara.
The News' Buffalo Next team covers the changing Buffalo Niagara economy. Get the news in your inbox 5 days a week.
That's on the east side of Military, between Lockport Roads and Woodside Place. And it's northwest of both the Niagara Thruway exit at Porter and Packard roads, and the Niagara Falls International Airport.
According to documents submitted to the town, the new facility is being designed for Fairview USA Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Toronto-based Fairview Ltd., an international manufacturer and distributor of fittings and hoses. The company's head office and domestic sales operation is currently located at 3777 Commerce Court in Wheatfield, but would occupy more than half of the proposed new facility, making it the anchor tenant.
Founded in 1969, Fairview now operates 11 sales and distribution facilities across Canada and the United States, with over 250,000 square feet of warehouse space. It sells more than 15,000 items from its catalog – including fittings, adapters, tubes, clamps, cocks, valves and gauges – to companies in the industrial, gas control, plumbing, hydraulic, automotive, truck and RV fields.
The firm needs more room locally and approached Uniland because it wants to expand its current operations and workforce, while adding new machinery, said Uniland spokesman Ryan Weisz. The rest of the space in the new building could either be used for the company's expansion later, or as "spec" space for other firms' needs, he added.
The vacant 25.63-acre property fronts on Military for over 375 feet in length, as well as access from Woodside, and it also abuts a CSX Corp. rail line immediately on the north side. The firm is seeking a partial rezoning of 16.34 acres of the site to allow for the project, and is asking the town Planning Board for "sketch plan review" of the proposed development when it meets Tuesday.
"This is just looking to see if it's even worth pursuing," Weisz said. "We're interested in it, but we need the Town of Niagara to be on board."
The size and focus of the proposed project mirrors what Uniland is doing in Lackawanna, where it is constructing a 150,000-square-foot "spec" warehouse at 8 Dona St., at the Renaissance Commerce Park that Erie County is developing. No tenant is lined up as yet, but that's precisely the purpose, as the project is intended to be almost move-in ready to meet potential client needs.
A rendering of the proposed second warehouse at 8 Dona St., in the new Renaissance Commerce Park in Lackawanna.
That's expected to be completed this summer, but Uniland is also planning an almost identical 170,000-square-foot warehouse next door, based on the heavy demand for industrial space locally, and the severe shortage of available options. The second one is targeted for completion by summer 2023, and Uniland just filed with the City of Lackawanna to subdivide the property.
Uniland also has a similar project under development at 4100 Walden Ave., in the Eastport Commerce Center.
Must-read local business coverage that exposes the trends, connects the dots and contextualizes the impact to Buffalo's economy.
I've been a business reporter at The Buffalo News since 2004, now covering residential and commercial real estate and development amid WNY's resurgence. I'm an upstate native, proud to call Buffalo my home, and committed to covering it thoroughly.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
It's the next phase of a larger infrastructure plan to create a series of roadways and provide access to all parcels within the 130-acre business park, and even deeper into the 1,200-acre industrial campus.
Business recruiters can pitch manufacturers on the appeal of the Buffalo Niagara region's workforce, quality of life and universities. But it is hard to seal the deal if there is nowhere for a company to get up and running quickly.
Over the past decade, Erie County and New York State have spent nearly $50 million to buy land, move rail lines and lay the groundwork for development.
The two land parcels are located in a Qualified Opportunity Zone, and are also eligible for lucrative tax credits under the state Brownfield Cleanup Program.
There's a good reason why developers across the Buffalo Niagara region are building new warehouses even before tenants are lined up: because they know the new space will get snapped up in a hurry.
Uniland plans to spend about $17 million on the first facility, which is expected to open in summer 2022 after work began last year. The foundations are being laid now. It will now invest another $20 million in the second project, which it committed to begin building within the next 18 months.
Erie County has purchased another 80 acres of land along Route 5 on either side of Smokes Creek to bolster the size of its new Renaissance Commerce Park on the site of the former Bethlehem Steel plant.
Many of the prospects were in the manufacturing, light industrial, logistics or warehouse sectors, as well as some software engineering and life sciences firms, he said.
Uniland is preparing to erect the warehouse on a 9.12-acre parcel of land that it acquired from an affiliate of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency.
This site at 3401 Military Road in the Town of Niagara is being considered by Uniland Development Co. for a new 150,000-square-foot warehouse project for a Canadian firm.
A rendering of the proposed second warehouse at 8 Dona St., in the new Renaissance Commerce Park in Lackawanna.
Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.