Dunkirk, NY

Dunkirk is a small Lake Erie harbor city on I-90 and the Buffalo–Chicago rail lines: the natural stepping stone between Buffalo and Erie, and a place worth studying for storage and staging. It is not an electronics cluster, and we will not pretend it is. Its value is its position.

Aspirational. We have no presence in Dunkirk yet. This page says why we want relationships, partnerships and resources there, and what we hope to build with them.

What Dunkirk is

Dunkirk is a city in Chautauqua County on the southern shore of Lake Erie, about 50 miles southwest of Buffalo. It is served by the Buffalo–Chicago main lines of both CSX and Norfolk Southern, and sits on the interstate that carries traffic on toward Erie and Cleveland.

Asset	Detail
Position	On Lake Erie and I-90, between Buffalo and Erie, with two main rail lines running through.
A former power plant site	The Dunkirk Generating Station opened in the 1950s and was retired by NRG in 2016. Its ownership has since passed to Genover, a Texas-based energy asset investor. No redevelopment has been announced; local studies have looked at reuse, including a data center and industrial use.
Downtown and waterfront investment	Dunkirk won $10 million as Western New York’s winner in the sixth round of New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, for nine projects that activate the waterfront, add workforce housing and expand economic development.
Local development bodies	The Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency, the city and the county planning department, which have worked on the power plant site together.
Learning and start-ups	SUNY Fredonia’s Center for Innovation and Economic Development, a technology incubator in Dunkirk, and a Jamestown Community College campus.

Why we want relationships in Dunkirk

A stepping stone. Between Buffalo and Erie there is a lakeshore with real rail and highway access. Anything that moves along the corridor passes through it.
Storage and staging. A possible place on the U.S. side to hold stock and stage shipments. It is an idea to test, not a plan.
A place in transition. A city investing in its waterfront, with a large industrial site waiting for a purpose, is a place where new kinds of work can find room.
Start-up and training links. A technology incubator and a college campus are people and programs we would like to know.
The right first call. Local economic development agencies are the way in, not a search for electronics shops that are not there.

What we would need to find out

Before anyone commits to Dunkirk, some questions need honest answers.

Question	Why it matters
What do warehouse and storage rates look like?	The economics decide whether staging here makes sense.
How good is I-90 and rail access for a small shipper?	Position only helps if a small user can use it.
Is customs brokerage available?	Goods crossing the border need it.
What can the county agency offer?	Site help and incentives vary by project.

What we would like to build

Introductions to the county and the city, starting with the industrial development agency.
A logistics study with local warehouse and freight operators, published plainly, on whether Dunkirk makes sense as a corridor staging point.
Links with the incubator and the college, for start-up and training exchange.
Visits. Tours of the harbor, the waterfront and the sites in play.
Resources. Storage and staging partners, as the corridor grows. See Storage.

Help shape it

If you work in freight, warehousing, development or education in Chautauqua County, or know a suitable building, we would like to hear from you. See also Greater Buffalo, Erie, PA and Western New York.

References

All places: Hamilton · St. Catharines · Niagara Falls · Fort Erie · GB · WNY · Dunkirk, NY · Rochester · Erie, PA.

Know someone, a building, a program or a partner we should meet? Write to office@niagaraassembly.com, or post it on the Board.

Please note: organizations are named here to describe the landscape. None has agreed to anything with Niagara Assembly, and naming an organization implies no involvement, partnership or endorsement. Figures come from the sources listed above and change over time; check them before relying on them. Trade terms between Canada and the United States keep changing. The geography does not.