In the past few years, the former Erie Malleable Iron site has undergone some significant changes.

Since the Erie County Redevelopment Authority bought the property in 2021, two-thirds of the building have been demolished, and construction is underway to rehabilitate the final third.

“We are finishing up the foundation for the exterior walls, so in the next couple weeks that should be completed, and that will allow the block or the foundations to be laid up along with studding for the exterior walls, mostly on the west side of the building,” said Brian Vanhoozer, Project Superintendent with E.E. Austin & Son.

Once complete, the property will turn into the “Erie Ironworks Square,” and space inside is already being leased to prospective tenants.

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The CEO of the Erie County Redevelopment Authority said they already have about 50% of the building leased, with a restaurant, a tech company, and the redevelopment authority itself looking to call the building home, but before move-in day, contractors still have some work ahead of them.

“Through the winter will be the interior fit out, and then we’re hoping to wrap up here real close to the end of the year with the exterior envelopes, so we can get dried in, and then going from there, a lot of the space inside it fit for future tenant fit out,” said Ken Sherwin, Project Manager with EE Austin & Son.

The remining part of the building is about 80,000 square feet, space that will be leased to interested tenants.

The building itself is over 150 years old, and Sherwin said it comes with its challenges. But the goal is to preserve the building’s industrial history while still being functional for businesses to move in.

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“It’s going to look like an old industrial building,” said Sherwin. “It’s old and it’s challenging, so we’re constantly running into things that we find along the way that we’re working through, but the uniqueness of just the building, and being able to maintain that industrial look in a new setting is really unique about this project.”

Erie Malleable Iron was founded back in the 1840s as a manufacturer of boilers, engines, sawmills and more, and while there likely won’t be any manufacturing at the building going forward, the project will bear resemblance to the way it looked decades ago.

Sherwin said he anticipates the project to be completed in about 10 months, around late August 2026.

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