Lackawanna, N.Y. (WBEN) - In a special ceremony located just outside Renaissance Commerce Park in Lackawanna on Friday, local leaders and others closely associated with the development of the property gathered to unveil a landmark entryway sign, commemorating a new beginning for the former Bethlehem Steel site.
"It wasn't that long ago this was an abandoned Brownfield that sat vacant for nearly four decades," said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz during Friday's ceremony. "I remember when the steel plant closed, and this was not an abandoned site. This was building after building after building, where 20,000 direct jobs were on this site, and there were, at least, 5,000 to potentially 10,000 indirect jobs that were associated with the old Bethlehem Steel site here in Lackawanna. And it was such a big site, it also entered the Town of Hamburg through the part of the Hamlet of Woodlawn. It was that large, it was that influential, it was that important to our community. And when it shut down, it had an impact that I don't think any of us could have truly have imagined, at the time, and the impact it had was not a good one. It took years and years and years of work by the people that you see here today, and the individuals that they represent, to get to the point where we are today, where we could celebrate the unveiling of a sign."
Poloncarz made the re-development of the former Bethlehem Steel site a top priority during his time in office as County Executive. Along with help from local, state and federal grants, as well as $90 million from private businesses investing in the development and job creation on site, Renaissance Commerce Park came to life.
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"For decades, this site has been one of our region's biggest challenges. Today, though, we can, once again, see its potential," said Karen Utz, Western New York Regional Director with Empire State Development. "New York State has invested tens of millions of dollars in the remediation and re-development of this land. Empire State Development has supported private companies who chose to come here and grow here, expand here, like Sucrose Sourcing, Welded Tube, TMP Technologies - the maker of Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Once again, this site is humming with activity, and this sign is going to greet Renaissance Commerce Park workers as they arrive daily. I want to thank Gov. Kathy Hochul, our elected officials, City of Lackawanna, Erie County, and our private partners who are locating here, who have all gotten us here to today. Together, we are writing the next great chapter in the history of this site and the region."
The Erie County Industrial Development Agency (ECIDA) was tasked with managing the property development through its land development through its land development arm, the Industrial Land Development Corporation (ILDC).
Bethlehem Steel once employed more than 35,000 workers at its plant in Lackawanna until it eventually shut down operations in 1983. At that point, many of the site's structures sat empty and decaying, and re-development of the 1,000-acre site seemed unlikely due to environmental remediation and economic factors.
"This was a tough, tough place. In 1980, Bethlehem Steel, reported profits of $4 billion. Two years later, they report losses of $1.5 billion. It was the importation of foreign steel, it was high taxes, and they left a 1,000-acre Superfund site here," said Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-23). "Mark Poloncarz had the presence of mind assembling a team that had a vision, and that vision is manifesting itself today, and accruing to the benefit of all of us. This project, in particular, is going to be here for a long time, only to expand, only to improve, only to get better for all of us."
The former Bethlehem Steel site began its transformation in 2017 into, what's now, the Renaissance Commerce Park when a purchase agreement was signed with site owner Tecumseh Redevelopment.
Six years later, a number of new businesses and other building projects call Renaissance Commerce Park home, with the potential for more industrial and commercial businesses to come.
"The County Executive assembled an amazing team that tackled this enormous issue, a 1,000-acre site, five miles long, a mile deep to the water from Route 5. Brownfields and Superfund site, a barren wasteland of the past, the industrial past of Western New York, that was ignored for decades," said State Senator Tim Kennedy on Friday. "But times are changing, and now Bethlehem Steel is all gone, and the Renaissance Commerce Park is here. And it's here because of the leadership of County Executive Poloncarz and his team, and the federal government and the state government all working together on a common goal of moving our community forward. This is a great day for all of us here in Western New York."
Uniland Development is currently constructing a second spec building on the parcel of land directly behind 8 Dona Street, while the ILDC is in the planning and purchase negotiation stages of Phase 2 acreage South of the Dona Street extension. This would add an additional 50 acres of land South of Smokes Creek, allowing for an extension of the Shoreline Trail Bike Path to the South of Woodlawn Beach.
More from Friday's special unveiling ceremony is available in the player below: