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The bigger picture is that this area along Scajaquada Creek and Black Rock overall is undergoing a transformation from its industrial history dating back to the 1600s as the first shipyard on the Great Lakes through late 1900s with its steel mills and other factories. Still a long way to go, but new apartments on Tonawanda, Forest, and Grant along with re-use of existing properties and the recent expansion of Buff State west of Grant Street have already changed the area significantly.
There are a lot of unused acres at the old Pratt & Letchworth Steel site and old Black Rock Railyards, but I believe that the Maroun family out of Detroit (Ambassador Bridge owner, and well-known holder of vacant and deteriorating properties like Michigan Central Station) has controlling interest and has been sitting on it for decades in the hope of building a new private bridge to Canada (although Canada has already rejected it). Matt Maroun recently died, so it will be interesting if the land becomes available to other developers finally.
The bigger picture is that this area along Scajaquada Creek and Black Rock overall is undergoing a transformation from its industrial history dating back to the 1600s as the first shipyard on the Great Lakes through late 1900s with its steel mills and other factories. Still a long way to go, but new apartments on Tonawanda, Forest, and Grant along with re-use of existing properties and the recent expansion of Buff State west of Grant Street have already changed the area significantly.
There are a lot of unused acres at the old Pratt & Letchworth Steel site and old Black Rock Railyards, but I believe that the Maroun family out of Detroit (Ambassador Bridge owner, and well-known holder of vacant and deteriorating properties like Michigan Central Station) has controlling interest and has been sitting on it for decades in the hope of building a new private bridge to Canada (although Canada has already rejected it). Matt Maroun recently died, so it will be interesting if the land becomes available to other developers finally.
Good insight and I forget about the development that has been occurring on the West Side that would be connected to this as well.
Some of the newer apartments have been built along the area's where P&L was located. I worked there the last couple of years of it's existence. I wouldn't live there. I don't know how much ground you would have to clean up and, I hope I'm wrong but, driving by the area most days I don't recall seeing a lot of remediation before construction.
Some of the newer apartments have been built along the area's where P&L was located. I worked there the last couple of years of it's existence. I wouldn't live there. I don't know how much ground you would have to clean up and, I hope I'm wrong but, driving by the area most days I don't recall seeing a lot of remediation before construction.
The land the apartments were built on was the old Westwood Pharmaceutical site on the other side of the creek. I assume (hope) that land where pharmaceuticals were produced was better maintained than land where steel and paint was manufactured. The P&L site is definitely still vacant. My father worked there for about 20 years until it closed.
If you haven't taken the bike trail between Grant and Niagara, there is a historical display along the bike trail there that identifies that part of the creek as the site where the Griffon was built in 1679, and also was the site of the Perry Shipyard where War of 1812 ships were built. Lots of hidden and mostly forgotten history back there. They are currently fixing up the old buildings along the Tonawanda Street side.
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