By Staff Reporter
BUFFALO — A research lab on Peabody Street that spent decades as part of Honeywell is about to become the global research headquarters of a company that has been on its own for only about a year.
Solstice Advanced Materials, the specialty materials business Honeywell spun off in October 2025, will spend $49 million to build, renovate and equip its Buffalo research and development facility, making it the company’s “premier global R&D hub,” Gov. Kathy Hochul announced. The project is expected to add 12 jobs to the 180 people Solstice already employs in Buffalo.
Empire State Development is offering up to $1.4 million through the performance-based Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit Program. That works out to about $117,000 for each new job, though Excelsior credits are paid only if a company meets its hiring and investment commitments, and the deal is also meant to keep the 180 existing jobs in Buffalo.
“New York continues to be a magnet for the industries of tomorrow, and Solstice’s decision to anchor its premier R&D facility right here in Buffalo proves that our economic strategy is working,” Ms. Hochul said.
Why the lab matters to the company
Solstice is not a small startup. It reported $1.15 billion in net sales for the second quarter, up 11 percent from a year earlier, and expects $4.13 billion to $4.19 billion in sales for 2026, according to a transcript of its July 30 earnings call published by The Motley Fool. Its refrigerants business alone had $473 million in second-quarter sales, up 13 percent, driven by the federally mandated shift away from older hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants toward hydrofluoroolefins, or HFOs, and by orders for data center cooling.
The site at 20 Peabody Street was Honeywell’s Buffalo Research Laboratory before the spinoff, according to federal EPA facility records.
“This investment will accelerate the innovation our customers and critical industries depend on while creating new opportunities for growth in Buffalo,” said Ryan Hulse, Solstice’s senior director for R&D. “By expanding our R&D capabilities here, we are strengthening our proven hub in Buffalo for advancing next-generation solutions from lab to market.”
The next molecule
The investment comes as Solstice races to develop what comes after its current products. On the July call, an analyst asked Chief Executive David Sewell about the company’s work on “next-generation non-PFAS refrigerant molecules,” a growing issue as regulators in Europe and some U.S. states weigh restrictions on the broad class of “forever chemicals” that can include fluorinated refrigerants.
“We’re doing a lot of work on next-generation yf molecule, and we’re really excited about the development that we have,” Mr. Sewell said. He said the company had increased research spending this year and that “a big chunk of that is going to the next-generation yf molecule as well as next-generation molecules in development for things like 2-phase direct-to-chip, immersion cooling.” HFO-1234yf is the refrigerant used in most new cars.
The company did not say on the call where that research is being done, and the state announcement does not specify which programs the Buffalo expansion will house. It describes the work as research in “advanced materials and chemical processes.”
Mr. Sewell also said data center cooling is “the fastest-growing aspect of our refrigerants business,” growing at “strong double digits.”
Local officials see a keeper
“Solstice is a worldwide company that could have expanded anywhere but chose Peabody Street to be the site of its new research and development hub, underscoring the strong business climate and excellent workforce we have here in Erie County,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz.
State Sen. April N.M. Baskin tied the project to Buffalo’s industrial history, saying the region has a record of innovation “from harnessing Niagara Falls to power our manufacturing sector to the development of modern air conditioning right here in Buffalo.” Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan said the expansion “will bring new jobs to our city and make Buffalo the center of the company’s global research and development efforts.”
What Solstice says
“Solstice has committed to creating 12 new, full-time positions at its Buffalo facility by June 2027,” a Solstice spokesperson said in an email to The Buffalo Chronicle. “We have not shared any additional public updates on the upgrade/construction timeline.”
Asked what kind of research the expansion will support, the spokesperson said, “The upgrades will include expanded capabilities for refrigerant and thermal management research, enhanced toxicological testing to support the efficient development of new technologies and the construction of a lab for advanced energy storage materials.”
The questions that remain
The state’s announcement does not include a construction timeline, the number of jobs Solstice must retain to keep its credits, or how long it must stay, and Solstice said it has not shared any additional public updates on the timeline. The announcement also does not say whether Solstice will seek local property tax or sales tax breaks through the Erie County Industrial Development Agency, whose board is scheduled to meet Oct. 28.
Solstice will make the investment as a standalone company. In July it announced plans to acquire Element Solutions, a deal Mr. Sewell called “a significant acceleration of our strategy to build an industry-leading advanced materials platform.” On Aug. 27, the two companies mutually terminated the merger agreement, according to a Solstice filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Element Solutions said that after feedback from shareholders, both companies’ boards concluded the two would serve their shareholders better as standalone companies, and neither company owes the other a payment for ending the deal.
An earlier version of this story said the Element Solutions acquisition was pending and expected to close in the first half of 2027. The companies mutually terminated their merger agreement in August.
Solstice will report third-quarter results on Nov. 4. Solstice’s response did not address the job-retention terms of the Excelsior agreement. The Buffalo Chronicle has asked Empire State Development for those terms and will update this story with its response.
Updated October 21, 2026: This story was updated to correct the status of Solstice’s merger agreement with Element Solutions, which the companies mutually terminated in August, and to include comment from Solstice.
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