cleanup · Erie County
Trico Plant
Buffalo
Five-building Trico complex where windshield-wiper production from 1920 to 1990 included electroplating, smelting, die-casting, rubber extrusion, and metal fabrication. The 2.11-acre brownfield received a Certificate of Completion in 2019 and now operates under cover, vapor-mitigation, groundwater-use, land-use, and site-management controls.
The documented story
What happened here?
Trico Products used the Washington Street complex for windshield-wiper manufacturing from 1920 to 1990. DEC describes five connected industrial buildings containing about 617,627 square feet on the 2.11-acre brownfield parcel. Plant processes included electroplating, smelting, die-casting, rubber extrusion, and metal fabrication.
The plant had been vacant since 2000 when brownfield redevelopment advanced near the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Investigation and cleanup supported conversion primarily to apartments, with commercial and other mixed uses.
Because contamination remains managed beneath or within the redevelopment, the Certificate of Completion did not make the property unrestricted. A site-management plan, environmental easement, cover system, and vapor mitigation preserve the remedy.
An invention, a factory workforce, and a difficult industrial departure
Trico's Buffalo story continued long after the windshield wiper became ordinary
617,627 sq ftapproximate size of the connected former industrial buildings in DEC records
1917-1920s
A safety invention grew into a major Buffalo manufacturer
Oishei organized Trico around improved windshield-wiper technology and the company occupied the Washington Street complex beginning in 1920. Automobile growth turned a specialized device into standard equipment and made the plant an important city workplace.
Late twentieth century
Factory contraction became a labor and neighborhood story
Manufacturing moved from Buffalo in stages amid disputes over costs, concessions, and overseas production. Union members and their families experienced repeated uncertainty before the company announced the end of its remaining Buffalo operation.
Vacancy and redevelopment
Reuse preserved the building while requiring industrial cleanup
After years of vacancy, brownfield investigation addressed metals, petroleum, solvents, PCBs, and other manufacturing residues. Cleanup and building conversion supported apartments and mixed uses near the medical campus, retaining a monumental factory shell while changing who occupies it and why.
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
- 1920–1990
Trico manufactured windshield wipers using electroplating, smelting, die-casting, rubber extrusion, metal fabrication, and supporting power and storage systems.
- 1990–2013
Manufacturing ended, the buildings became vacant by 2000, and redevelopment planning led to environmental investigation and Brownfield Cleanup Program enrollment.
- 2017–2019
DEC selected the remedy in 2017; cleanup and adaptive-reuse construction followed, and DEC issued the Certificate of Completion on December 26, 2019.
- 2025
A revised site-management plan documented the engineering and institutional controls governing the occupied redevelopment.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- Historic manufacturing and urban fill affected soil, fill, groundwater, and soil vapor and required investigation during residential conversion.
- Large industrial buildings presented asbestos, lead-based materials, petroleum systems, and other regulated building and subsurface conditions.
- DEC's 2017 decision found that the surrounding public water supply was not affected and that soil-vapor concerns were limited to the on-site building; the final redevelopment therefore incorporated vapor mitigation.
- Remaining contamination is managed according to the final remedy and should not be generalized beyond the brownfield boundary.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- Cleanup combined removal or treatment of affected material with building abatement and controlled redevelopment.
- The final controls include a cover system, vapor mitigation, a groundwater-use restriction, a land-use restriction, an environmental easement, and soil-disturbance procedures under the site-management plan.
- Periodic inspection, certification, and operation and maintenance preserve the remedy after residents and businesses occupy the complex.
Then and now
The site today
The former Trico plant is primarily a residential adaptive-reuse project with commercial space. Its successful reuse depends on continued compliance with the state-approved site-management plan and any environmental easement.