11/26/2025
A Lockport manufacturer is growing, largely due to a big defense contract that one of its customers landed.
Allegheny Manufacturing LLC plans to spend $1.34 million to buy and renovate the former Niagara Fiberboard facility at 116, 130 and 140 Van Buren St. in Lockport that has been vacant for about a year.
Allegheny will continue leasing about 25,000 square feet at 5638 Old Saunders Settlement Road, but is unable to expand there.
Owner Kris Edelsward said Allegheny, along with his two other companies, is experiencing a lot of growth and the 58,000-square-foot Lockport facility will fill quickly.
Acquiring Americarb's machine shop
Edelsward said about half of the new facility will be occupied by Haliburton Machine Services LLC, the new name of the machine shop he is acquiring.
Edelsward worked closely with Niagara Falls-based Americarb Inc. and had an opportunity to acquire its shop. Americarb plans its own expansion following a big defense contract award. Edelsward is bringing on a couple of Americarb employees and plans to hire about 15 more once the space is ready.
“We are affectionately riding the coattails of Americarb’s expansion,” Edelsward said. “Their growth is fueling our expansion on the machining side.”
In September, Americarb was awarded a $12.6 million contract to provide a critical material used for insulation of missiles and rockets.
“It’s a two-year contract, with the bulk occurring in the next nine to 12 months,” said Greg Powers, Americarb's chief operating officer. “Our country stopped investing in missiles because, after the Cold War, they had plenty of stockpiles. Now they’re reinvesting as part of our defense strategy ‘Golden Dome.’ ”
Powers said the company is planning a $29 million expansion to include the renovation of three buildings totaling 125,000 square feet and construction of a 50,000-square-foot building for battery and energy storage production at its Niagara Falls Boulevard property. Americarb will also grow from 40 to 80 employees.
Powers said he wants the company to play a bigger role in revitalizing Niagara Falls.
“Investing in Niagara Falls is a brownfield strategy, but you have to rebuild the community along the way,” he said. “While other companies are closing or moving out of the region, we’re going the other way, hiring and entrenching and staying here.”
Allegheny's growth necessitates expansion
Edelsward's other machining company, Lafayette Machine Corp., was founded 65 years ago and has seven employees. He said the business will stay in Niagara Falls "because we have a lot of customers there."
Allegheny Manufacturing, founded in 2013, makes recycling equipment. About 10 of its 22 employees will share the Van Buren Street facility with Haliburton.
“In the last decade, we’ve transitioned from being a supplier to the cement aggregate and mining industry more to being a supplier in the recycling industry,” Edelsward said. “It’s allowed us to get into more machinery that we invent ourselves. For example, I’m the owner of 15 patents for size reduction and material handling equipment.”
With growth in that area, the company needed more space. That’s why it applied for more than $322,000 in property tax, sales tax and mortgage recording tax exemptions with the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency for the expansion project.
$1.34M expansion planned by Lockport manufacturer >> See the full article below ⬇️
