cleanup · Erie County
1827 Fillmore Avenue Former Quarry
Buffalo
Former stone quarry backfilled during the 1940s and 1950s with material of unknown origin and later developed as the Kensington Heights apartment complex. Investigations found PAHs and metals in soil and fill; excavation, cover, and institutional controls supported completion of the state brownfield cleanup in 2019.
The documented story
What happened here?
Stone extraction began at 1827 Fillmore Avenue by at least 1917, cutting a quarry across what became a 17-acre urban property and into adjoining land. During the 1940s and 1950s, the excavation was filled with sand, gravel, cinders, ash, asphalt, broken concrete, brick, metal, wood, glass, and ceramics from sources that were not fully documented.
In 1958 the filled quarry became Kensington Heights: six seven-story brick apartment towers with open space, roads, and parking. The complex stood between the Kensington Expressway, two public schools, and Erie County Medical Center, making the environmental history inseparable from decades of residential use.
The towers had been vacant since the 1980s. Asbestos abatement occurred from 2009 through 2014, and all six buildings were gone by 2018. Brownfield investigation then showed that the principal contamination was not a recent spill but the heterogeneous material used to create buildable land out of the quarry.
Sampling found PAHs across much of the surface and deeper hot spots of lead and other metals. The remedy was designed for commercial use rather than unrestricted residential use: remove the strongest source areas, chemically stabilize hazardous lead where excavation was not selected, and place a managed cover over remaining fill.
A quarry became fill, then became housing
Kensington Heights was built over an excavation filled with material of unknown origin
1958year the apartment complex was constructed over the former quarry
By 1917
Stone extraction created the site's defining landform
The original environmental transformation was physical: quarrying removed rock and left a large excavation within a growing city neighborhood.
1940s-1958
Unknown fill converted the quarry into residential ground
Material of incompletely documented origin filled the excavation during the 1940s and 1950s. Kensington Heights apartments were then constructed over the former quarry in 1958.
Investigation-2019
Residential use required a direct-contact remedy
Brownfield investigation found PAHs and metals in soil and fill. Excavation, a maintained cover, institutional controls, and a site-management plan supported New York's 2019 Certificate of Completion.
Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Chronology
Timeline
- By 1917–1940s
A stone quarry occupied the property and extended into adjacent land, leaving a deep excavation in the East Side landscape.
- 1940s–1950s
Mixed ash, cinders, rubble, soil, and debris from incompletely documented sources filled the quarry.
- 1958–1980s
Six Kensington Heights apartment towers housed residents over the filled quarry before the complex became vacant.
- 2009–2018
Asbestos was removed and the six deteriorated towers were demolished, exposing the fill landscape for systematic investigation and redevelopment planning.
- March–December 2019
DEC selected the commercial-use remedy, crews removed and stabilized source material and installed a cover, and the state issued a Certificate of Completion.
- Long-term phase
An environmental easement, groundwater restriction, excavation plan, cover inspection, monitoring, and periodic certification govern reuse.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- PAHs exceeded commercial soil criteria in nearly every surface sample in the 2019 decision, reflecting ash and combustion-related material spread through the quarry fill rather than one isolated drum or tank.
- Subsurface fill contained arsenic, barium, cadmium, copper, mercury, and lead above selected commercial criteria. Lead reached 21,800 parts per million, and two areas met the leaching definition of characteristic hazardous waste.
- DEC did not find a distribution indicating consequential off-site migration of site contaminants in soil or groundwater, and its evaluation found soil-vapor intrusion was not a concern for the investigated condition.
- Public access was restricted during the vacant phase, but anyone entering and disturbing soil could contact contamination. The site's history between schools and a medical campus made dependable cover and excavation controls especially important.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The selected plan called for removal of approximately 4,200 tons of soil with very high lead or total SVOCs, using chemical stabilization before disposal where necessary.
- Two lead areas were stabilized in place so the metal would be less soluble, then placed beneath the site cover. Pavement, building slabs, or at least one foot of approved soil over a demarcation layer provide the contact barrier.
- The environmental easement restricts the property to commercial use, bars groundwater use without treatment and approval, and requires compliance with a site-management plan.
- Future construction must follow the excavation plan and restore the cover wherever pavement, slabs, or soil barriers are removed. Groundwater monitoring and periodic certification test whether the remedy remains effective.
Then and now
The site today
The former quarry and apartment complex is a completed commercial-use brownfield, not an unrestricted residential cleanup. Its 2019 certificate supports controlled reuse while mixed quarry fill, stabilized lead, the cover system, groundwater restrictions, and soil-management duties remain part of the land.
School-map connection
See the documented campus relationship
The schools research map explains the documented property, adjacency, or mapped-parcel relationship without treating proximity as evidence of exposure or present school conditions.
Linked schools mapDR LYDIA T WRIGHT SCH OF EXCELLENCE →Linked schools mapPS 84 →