BUFFALO, N.Y. -- We're about six months away from the expected opening of SolarCity, the factory expected to bring hundreds of jobs to Buffalo, and Time Warner Cable News was the first TV station to get a full tour of construction progress inside the building taking shape along South Park Avenue.

"We actually set the first piece of structural steel in February 2015, so 11 months later, we have a fully enclosed building," said David Vawter, a project manager for the developer LP Ciminelli of the progress at Buffalo's future SolarCity plant.

You might not be able to tell right now which area is a clean room or where module assembly will happen, but that isn't expected to be the case much longer.

"We're starting to work on all the mechanical infrastructure to get ready for the owner to start bringing in all their process tools to make the solar panels," said Vawter.

It's the largest building constructed in Western New York since the Tops Distribution Center was built 20 years ago. To give you an idea of just how big it is:

  • 14 million pounds of reinforcing steel were used in the concrete. If you laid that end-to-end, it would stretch from Buffalo to Walt Disney World.
  • There's 6,187 tons of structural steel. Builders say that's enough to put together a small warship.
  • As for the overall size, it's equivalent to that of eight Home Depots, and inside, you could fit four football fields laid end-to-end.

"We have green power already there through hydro, so we have a great, low-cost green power and we can operate the plant in a way that's consistent with our values," said SolarCity VP of Operations Steve James. "There's readily available water and other resources - manufacturers of the raw materials and chemicals we need for producing the panels right there in Buffalo." 

The project didn't come without its share of challenges. The location is the former site of Republic Steel, and the Buffalo River once flowed through the spot.

"We had to deal with a former brownfield site from an environmental standpoint and structurally having to deal with substandard existing conditions and having to drive piles on the entire site to support the building," said Vawter.

Officials say the project is on schedule, and more than 900 crew members are working to get the plant ready for business by July 2.

Friday on Time Warner Cable News, we'll have more with Solar City's vice president of operations about the jobs the company is expected to bring to Western New York and what he says will make this plant stand out.