Three years after a massive, four-alarm fire ravaged the Niagara Lubricant plant, causing millions of dollars in damage and a host of environmental scares for its surrounding community, the industrial oil and lubrication products company has rebuilt operations at a new location.
The fire on July 13, 2011, burned for 23 hours, feeding off the motor oil, greases and lubricating oil products that were manufactured there. Plumes of thick, black smoke bellowed into surrounding neighborhoods, causing hazardous conditions for residents that lasted several days after the blaze. The cause was never determined. The factory was demolished after nearly $8 million in damage.
It reopens three years and four days after the blaze displaced the 91-year-old company, which had been operating out of a temporary building on Northland Ave. near SUNY (State University of New York) Buffalo State since the fire while awaiting money to fund the construction of the new plant.
Owner Leon Smith III was joined by several local officials last Thursday to introduce Niagara Lubricants new factory, a 60,000-square-foot facility in the old American Axle & Manufacturing complex at 1057 East Delavan Ave.
Niagara Lubricant committed $2.2 million to its reconstruction. The company was also approved for $172,000 in property tax and sales tax savings from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency and received another loan from the National Development Council.
Niagara Lubricant Co. makes a variety of automotive and industrial lubricating oils, greases, and tire care products. The company blends and markets its own Five Star Motor & Engine Oils as well as performs contract blending for other oil companies.
The 91-year-old company was founded in 1923. The company acquired its Black Rock site in 1985 when it purchased E.G. Fischer Oil Co. and became a distributor of Quaker State products. In the 1990s, in response to the continued decline in manufacturing within the Buffalo Niagara region, Niagara Lubricants shifted its focus from being a distributor to concentrate on its own manufacturing operations, expanding into tire care products and increasing its private label manufacturing and packaging capabilities.
