New York Fabricators Take Leading Role in Steel Production for Bills Stadium

If this were a different era, there’s a good chance most of the money would have come from the steel mills in the Buffalo Niagara area. But these steel mills closed their doors more than 40 years ago. In fact, little or no steel is made in New York State mills.

That forces contractors building the $1.7 billion stadium to rely on steel made in other parts of the country for the massive stadium construction project.

But state officials also note that a lot of steel work is still done by New York companies. They say about 60 percent of all the structural steel that will be used in the construction of the stadium will be worked in the state.

That means a number of New York companies will play a role in manufacturing, finishing and delivering the steel used in the stadium, state officials said.

But if there are few or no steel mills left making steel in the state, including in the once-proud steelmaking region of Buffalo Niagara, what does that 60 percent figure touted by the state really mean?

Most of the companies in the state working on the stadium’s steel beams are custom steel fabricators.

A manufacturer takes material from a steel mill and prepares it for the job site through the processes of cutting, bending, welding and assembly. They will undertake tasks such as determining the location of bolt holes and embedding them into the steel.

Fabricators play a critical role in a project of this scale, said Brian Raff, vice president of sustainability for the nonprofit trade organization American Institute of Steel Construction, which represents both steel mills and fabricators.

“A lot of times the steel mills are only credited for this work, and I understand why that’s because some people have never heard of the structural steel fabricators, but their role is important in this project,” Raff said . “Most don’t understand the nuances of making steel.”

The state is working with Cives Steel Co., a national company headquartered in St. Lawrence in the northern Adirondacks, as the prime contractor for the steel fabrication work. Around 12,000 tonnes of steel, almost half the quantity used in the project, will be manufactured by Cives Steel.

The company is one of about a dozen manufacturing facilities lined up for the stadium project. They also include JPW Structural Contracting in Syracuse and A&T Ironworks in New Rochelle.

Local subcontractors working on steel include Seneca Steel Erectors of West Seneca, Steel Tech Fabricators of Rochester, Huntress Painting of Niagara Falls and Interstate Steel Sales of Orchard Park.

At least eight local unions representing laborers, carpenters, truckers, engineers, plumbers, electricians and cement masons will be on the job during the steel erection, state officials said.

Additionally, Upstate Steel continued work on the stadium project after state economic development officials reversed their decision to exclude the Hamburg steelmaker from New York’s women-owned business program. Led by company president Lauren Chmielowiec, Upstate Steel now operates a warehouse in a former Bethlehem Steel building.

The steel these fabricators work on is 100% made in the USA for one of the largest construction projects ever in Western New York.

“We wanted to see domestic steel, and we’re obviously looking for as much of the materials and labor to be as local as possible,” said Steven Ranalli, president of Erie County Stadium Corp., the entity of state which supervises the project.

The steel is being used to build the skeleton of the 1.35 million square foot open-air stadium which will accommodate more than 60,000 fans and is expected to be completed before the start of the 2026 season. About a year after the project began , work is now underway on the stadium’s second level, which continues to rise from “the pit”, the deep hole that was dug to form its foundations.

The steel will rise level by level around the bowl, starting in the northwest corner of the stadium and continuing to the southeast corner. The last level to be constructed will be Level 5, which will consist of the stadium canopy 200 feet high.

This summer, state officials expect about 1,500 workers per day to be on site as the steel rises higher and some of the more detailed work begins.

“These types of projects are a tremendous boost to the local economy and certainly to the New York economy,” Raff said. “And by employing all of these people to support things like this stadium and this critical infrastructure, I think steel manufacturing contributes a lot to the local and national economies.”

There are at least 40 steel manufacturers in New York, employing about 2,000 people, and they work with many suppliers and other trades, creating additional jobs in these related fields, Raff said.

That includes about 85 companies involved in painting the structural steel once it’s manufactured, as well as others that build the columns or piers on top of the beams, he added.

By keeping steel manufacturing local, you also save on transportation costs and reduce emissions from moving materials.

“New York contributes greatly to the steel construction environment,” Raff said. “We’re excited to see a large-scale project using structural steel, which is why we’re following the stadium on the edge of our seat.”

But overall steel production in New York is not what it used to be. Today, the state’s steel production is less than 1 million tons per year, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

That pales in comparison to the nation’s leader in steel production, Indiana, which made more than 21 million tons of steel in 2022, and even the second-largest steel producer, Ohio, with more than 10 million tons of steel manufactured that year.

The steel used in the stadium has a green sustainability profile that makes this project environmentally friendly, Raff said. The production process, no longer living up to its dull and outdated character, uses electric arc furnaces, which emit 75% less carbon dioxide than traditional methods in many foreign factories, he said. he adds.

It contains primarily recycled materials from steel from decommissioned bridges, buildings, appliances and automobiles. It is melted over and over again and is continually made into new steel without any loss of durability or strength, Raff said.

“It’s a really big sustainability story for steel and a really good choice for this stadium,” Raff said.