Demolition Begins at Town of Tonawanda Tank Farm

August 4, 2009

Erie County Assists in Removal of Eyesore/Property Remediation

With Erie County’s help, demolition is underway at a former petroleum tank farm constructed in the 1930’s in the Town of Tonawanda.  The site once held 12 large above ground storage tanks, which were mostly removed.  One large tank remained since the site was abandoned in the early 1990’s.  That tank has now been demolished and is being removed.

 Erie County took temporary incidence ownership of the 25 acre property to allow the demolition to move forward.  Following demolition, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will perform environmental investigations on the site to determine if any additional remediation is needed.  When those investigations are completed, it will allow for reuse of the property for light industrial/office space similar to the Riverview Commerce Park down the road.  TM Montante Development owns the Commerce Park and welcomes demolition of the tank farm.

Erie County Executive Chris Collins said, “This marks another waterfront and greenway improvement project, and is another item on my administration’s checklist to set Erie County on the Road to a Bright Future.  I’m happy we’re able to partner with Town leaders to move this long awaited project forward.”

 Town of Tonawanda Supervisor Anthony Caruana said, “This is a great opportunity for our Town to help us regain valuable property for our light industrial and business redevelopment in our beautiful Riverview Commerce Park, River Road area.  Thank you to Erie County for providing the matching funding to help us recover this prime riverfront property.”

 Kevin Montante, Vice President of TM Montante Development said, “This is a great example of Erie County’s commitment to improving its waterfront and attracting new business.  Private investment aligned with state and local support has greatly enhanced the regions natural beauty and the results have brought more than 120 new jobs to Riverview Commerce Park and to Erie County in just over 2 years."

Erie County and the Town of Tonawanda each contributed $50,000 toward the demolition project.  Work is being done by Op Tech, an environmental investigation and remediation firm.  The contract calls for demolition of the main building, truck fueling racks and removal of the 5 million gallon tank.