Hertel: a working industrial corridor
Research briefing · 8 October 2026 · Public records and reporting leads
Download the full industrial report (PDF). The 26-page report preserves all 48 map numbers and adds a register of the 106 industrial-class parcels. This overview selects companies and reporting questions; it does not reproduce the full inventory.
The study uses a reporting rectangle around Hertel, Elmwood, Military, Delaware and Chandler, not an official district boundary. Of 2,939 selected parcels, 2,357 are residential-class and 106 industrial-class. Tax classifications do not establish present occupancy, zoning or the number of businesses.
Where this report applies
This report follows the earlier parcel map: the Hertel corridor around Elmwood, the Comet/Botsford/Norris cluster to the north, Chandler to the south, and the surrounding blocks toward Military and Delaware. The exact analysis rectangle is longitude -78.893 to -78.868 and latitude 42.9385 to 42.957. It is a reporting boundary, not an official industrial district or neighborhood border.
The owner's name comes from the 2026-2027 city parcel service. A company is described as a confirmed address when its own published information or a government source supports the location. That does not establish which shifts are running, the entire building's tenancy, revenue, employment or permit compliance. Online pages and undated directories can lag physical moves.
The separate residential report examines homes within the same rectangle and uses city-wide neighborhood indicators only as broader context. Retail landmarks in the original satellite screenshot help orientation, but a screenshot label is not evidence that a shop still trades there.
Caplugs / Protective Industries - map 1
Location: 2150 Elmwood Avenue Evidence: Company website; published address
Caplugs makes protective plastic products used during manufacturing, shipping and finishing. The parcel owner is Protective Industries Inc. Its January 2026 announcement describes a new silo feeding recycled HDPE into extrusion for hose-protection products, with about 60k pounds of storage capacity and a claimed annual throughput of 800k pounds. The company says this changes material handling and reduces truck deliveries; those benefits require measurement.
MOD-PAC - maps 32 and 29
Location: 1801 Elmwood; warehouse at 1803 Elmwood Evidence: Company plus DEC occupancy evidence
MOD-PAC produces paperboard packaging, including custom folding cartons and stock packaging. Its company contact identifies 1801 Elmwood. A separate April 2026 DEC document says MOD-PAC uses the 1803 Elmwood cleanup area for warehousing and intends renovation for storage and possible manufacturing equipment. The property at 1803 has an LLC owner rather than MOD-PAC in the tax roll.
Buffalo Metal Casting - map 19
Location: 1875 Elmwood Avenue Evidence: Company and parcel match
The company describes nonferrous sand casting in aluminum, brass, bronze and copper, with machining and assembly services. Its published contact lists John Klodzinski as president, Suzanne Jay as vice president and Justin Klodzinski as general manager. City ownership matches Buffalo Metal Casting Co.
Frontier Galvanizing - maps 34 and 31
Location: 1740 Elmwood; separate owner parcel at 761 Hertel Evidence: Company address; yard occupancy unconfirmed
Frontier's legal name is Frontier Hot-Dip Galvanizing Inc. It dates its business to 1948 and describes moving into the former General Drop Forge foundry at 1740 Elmwood. The company says it serves infrastructure projects and has invested in flux treatment, acid regeneration and passivation changes. Its project and workforce descriptions are company claims rather than an audited local employment series.
Hagner Industries - map 13
Location: 95 Botsford Place Evidence: Confirmed company address
Hagner publishes CNC milling/turning, metal fabrication, MIG/TIG welding and engineering capabilities. It lists 95 Botsford and posts ISO 9001:2015 and welding-certification claims. The company describes work for oil/gas, mining and defense customers; contract amounts and the local share are not disclosed. The city lists LDA Holding LLC as parcel owner.
Image Supply Source - map 12
Location: 103 Norris Street Evidence: Confirmed company address
Image Supply Source says it began in 2010 as a distributor of equipment, consumables and services for sign, screen-printing and commercial-printing businesses. It publishes its main office at 103 Norris and describes regional sales/warehousing beyond Buffalo. The parcel owner is John Zenger; the owner and supplier should be treated as separate identities unless their relationship is documented.
Mirabo Press - map 20
Location: 11 Botsford Place Evidence: Confirmed studio address
Mirabo describes collaborative printmaking, limited editions, workshops and artist residencies. Its founders include Bob Fleming, Rachel Shelton and Mizin Shin. The parcel is classified warehouse and owned by Botsford Studios LLC, illustrating why tax class alone cannot describe current production.
45 Comet Records Center - map 2
Location: 45 Comet Street Evidence: Government-confirmed address
The City of Buffalo identifies 45 Comet as its Records Center and publishes 716-877-0636 for appointments. The parcel's owner is 45 Comet LLC and its land-use class is industrial. This is a clear example of a public service occupying a privately named industrial parcel; older business-directory entries at the same address may be stale.
Chandler Street's production and entertainment mix - maps 38, 46-48
Location: 166, 155 and 27-37 Chandler Street Evidence: Mixed primary and dated secondary evidence
February 2026 reporting identifies Chandler Street Breweries at 166 as a shared taproom for Community Beer Works, Thin Man and Smoldered Society; an operator menu supports the address. Waxlight's website identifies 27 Chandler. Visit Buffalo describes over 10 food producers across the 27-37 Kitchens on Chandler complex. Buffalo Comedy Collective publishes 155 Chandler. ENrG's company profile lists ceramic membranes at Suite 5 there, but its own website could not be read.
Documented cleanups require site-by-site reporting
1803 Elmwood, C915394 (map 29). DEC's April 2026 fact sheet describes a 0.655-acre cleanup area within a larger 8.53-acre parcel, south of Hertel. It proposes floor removal and a sub-slab vapor system, among other controls, for a warehouse used by MOD-PAC. DEC and the state health department say the site does not pose a significant threat. The public-comment period ended 23 May 2026. That date is not proof of approval or completed construction. Ask for the final decision, latest work logs and certification. Distinguish the adjoining MOD-PAC site C915314.
96 Botsford / 100 Botsford site, C915356 (map 10). DEC's executed agreement explicitly reconciles these two addresses. Its 2020 participation plan describes former lumber operations and chromated-copper-arsenate wood treatment. Developer marketing calls the site a future development opportunity. Request the newest remedial report, certificate of completion, easement and permitted reuse; neither old history nor sales copy resolves current status.
166 Chandler, C915320 (map 38). A May 2022 periodic review reports a restricted-use cleanup completed in 2018. Ask for the latest annual certification and the controls that future owners or tenants must maintain. Cleanup for a specified use does not mean every potential use is approved.
215 Chandler, Universal Precision historical EPA response. This is an additional address, not map 40 at 207 Chandler. EPA's page recounts an August 2010 assessment of a former machine/foundry-supply property and says response activities have concluded. It is relevant industrial history. It does not establish current contamination, exposure or a hazard to people walking nearby. Retrieve the final removal report and current ownership/use before revisiting the story.
A smell, visible dust or discolored pavement can be a recorded observation; none identifies a chemical or establishes exposure. Air permits, bulk-storage registrations, waste records, spill files and cleanup records need separate exact-address/facility-ID matches. No comprehensive permit, OSHA, TRI, court-case or enforcement census was completed for this report, and no absence-of-violations finding is implied.
The stories to test on foot and in records
Jobs and investment. Ask each manufacturer for five years of Buffalo-site jobs, shifts, wage ranges, temporary-worker share and training. Ask workers separately about commute, pay progression and retention. Compare jobs at the site with corporate totals before making a trend claim.
Space changing use. Request tenant and occupancy records for Denny's cluster, Uniland's Hertel properties and Chandler's mixed-use buildings. Compare permitted use, physical use and tax class. To test whether reuse creates opportunity, interview producers who stayed, entered and left; ask about rents, build-out costs and shared equipment.
Freight and homes. At Botsford/Norris, Hertel/Elmwood and the approaches to Chandler, count trucks crossing a fixed observation line for two matched 30-minute periods on different days. Record direction, vehicle type, idling duration, sidewalk obstruction and time. A short count describes those intervals; it is not an annual traffic estimate.
Public support and who benefits. Ask owners and agencies for project-specific grants, tax abatements and brownfield credits, with terms and performance commitments. No subsidy amount for these companies was verified here. Do not infer assistance merely from a brownfield application.
Resident experience. Interview residents on both sides of the corridor, renters and owners, shift workers and people who walk or use transit. Ask for a specific recent example and location rather than assuming everyone experiences the same benefit or burden.
Method and coverage limits
The ArcGIS query returned 3,126 parcel features intersecting the rectangle in two ordered pages (2,000 and 1,126). Counts use the signed-area centroid of the whole polygon, including its rings, inside the rectangle: 2,939 parcels. A parcel crossing the edge is counted only if its centroid is inside. Geometry and attributes were downloaded on 8 October 2026 from the city service named Parcels_20262027.
The index is the same 48-property selection as the earlier map, joined by exact SBL. Its warehouse, mixed-use and vacant properties are included even when not in the city's Industrial category. The expanded register contains the 106 Industrial-category parcels selected by centroid. It is a broader land-record register, not a second list of 106 confirmed factories.
Business research used company pages, city records, DEC/EPA documents and dated local reporting. Search-result content was retained as such when direct retrieval failed. We did not contact companies, visit sites, audit finances, establish complete employee counts or prove all tenants present on the reporting date. Public web research cannot produce an exhaustive suite-by-suite business census without occupancy records and field checks. Current-use uncertainty is recorded at each indexed property.
Owner names and classification labels are roll entries, not findings of misconduct. Assessments are not sale prices. Separate neighboring parcels and site-program boundaries must not be collapsed into a single contaminated area.
Take the study onto the street
The Hertel Walking Study is listed on the Board for Friday, October 9, 2026, at 1 p.m. Eastern (Buffalo time). The exact meeting point remains to be confirmed. The itinerary is a reporting proposal; sidewalk continuity and crossings must be checked on arrival. Record observations separately from interviews and document claims, and request permission before entering private premises.