Former Bethlehem Steel Industrial Park Gets First Business

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Lackawanna, NY (WBEN) The Industrial Land Development Corp. Board of Directors has approved a $1.05 million land purchase agreement for 28 acres on the former Bethlehem Steel site in Lackawanna with local manufacturer TMP Technologies/Time Release Sciences, Inc. TMP will be the first business to locate on a parcel being redeveloped by the ILDC into a state-of-the-art industrial business park, with plans to invest $22.7 million in a new 290,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility located on the site’s nearly-complete Dona Street Extension.

“TMP’s decision to locate their new facility at the Bethlehem site is significant for many reasons. As a successful company, they could have gone anywhere for this expansion but they chose to stay here and add to Erie County’s economic renaissance, retaining over 100 jobs and adding 50 new ones. They are also the first to locate at the new site, where they will flourish and show other potential tenants the advantages of locating there,” said Erie County Executive and ILDC Chair Mark C. Poloncarz. “Keeping them in Erie County is a win, and helping them find a home in Lackawanna adds to the momentum there. I thank TMP for working with us to make this happen, and thanks also to the many partners who had a hand in this success.”

Today, my fellow @ECIDANY and ILDC Directors and I approved the sale of 26 acres of land and a tax incentive package to TMP Packaging so it can invest $22 million to build a new 290,000 sq. ft. production facility at the old Bethlehem Steel site in @LackawannaNY. This is BIG. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/MOfs3VFkqX

— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) August 28, 2019

TMP will also pay approximately $1,534,000 to the City of Lackawanna, $1,224,000 to the Lackawanna School District, and $237,000 to Erie County during the concurrent 10-year PILOTs. The creation of 50 new jobs also brings benefit to the community in the form of workers spending their income on goods and services.  By year five the additional annual payroll benefit to the community will be approximately $2 million.

ECIDA President and CEO Steve Weathers said, “The ILDC, which is the land development services and bond issuance arm of the ECIDA, has now remediated and transformed 140 acres on the former Bethlehem Steel site. But to really make this property into what it needs to be—a commercial business park with job-creating, tax-paying businesses to support the community—we need to incentivize those first few companies to build here. TMP has been a great partner in seeing the future vision of this site, and I think if you understand the long-game here, you recognize what a new level of opportunity this is for the residents of Lackawanna and Erie County.”

TMP’s cleaning products are known worldwide and the new, larger space will allow the company to expand production of its family of cleaning product lines manufactured for a Fortune 500 company. The Lackawanna site will add an estimated 50 additional jobs at an annual average salary of approximately $40,000 (not including benefits) as well as retaining 103 jobs from the Dingens Street facility. TMP’s second site, a manufacturing operation on Northland Avenue in Buffalo, will remain fully operational.

“We are committed to Western New York and Erie County, and we are very excited to be a part of the revitalization taking place at the former Bethlehem Steel site in Lackawanna. While our Northland location will remain open, our need for more room than what was available at our Dingens Street facility led us to look at creating our own manufacturing space,” added TMP/TRS President Bob Laughlin. “Because of the incentives provided and the availability of acreage, the former Bethlehem Steel site was the right choice for us, and we are able to add at least fifty more jobs to our workforce over the next five years.”

City of Lackawanna Mayor Geoffrey Szymanski said, “The residents of Lackawanna have been waiting a long time for the redevelopment of the former Bethlehem Steel site. It’s been challenging but my administration has been working very hard to help make this possible. I thank County Executive Poloncarz, members of our city council, our incredibly patient residents, and all the stakeholders who joined us in the effort, who continue to believe in the future of our community and our region. And to TMP I’d like to say, ‘Welcome to Lackawanna!’”

Empire State Development President, CEO & Commissioner Howard Zemsky said, “New York State support has been critical to Erie County’s acquisition of land at the former Bethlehem Steel site. After decades of sitting idle, this site will be home to new businesses and jobs, further evidence of the ongoing, transformational turnaround we’ve seen in Western New York.”

TMP expects to break ground at the Lackawanna site as soon as September 2019.