New Castle OK's $13.9 Million New Millwood Firehouse; Spring Groundbreaking Planned

[FF402 133]

New Castle OKs $13.95M Millwood firehouse plan; spring groundbreaking planned

The Millwood Fire Commission expects to break ground on its proposed $13.95 million firehouse in the spring following the unanimous approval of the New Castle Planning Board.

http://www.lohud.com...reaking-planned

[Dondestro 9]

$13.95M?!? Jeez. We are lucky if our $5,000 budget passes. Haha

[efdcapt115 1,511]

More construction jobs. Let's get these guys/gals some work!

[antiquefirelt 994]

Wow, that's some coin. In fact $13.9 million would cover our FD budget for 7 years, which coincidentally would be how long it would take them to have the same number of incidents we cover in 1 year.

[Ladder44 73]

Wow, that's some coin. In fact $13.9 million would cover our FD budget for 7 years, which coincidentally would be how long it would take them to have the same number of incidents we cover in 1 year.

That would cover my old depts budget for 233 years......

[gamewell45 258]

More construction jobs. Let's get these guys/gals some work!

Allow me to add that they should be union jobs!

[Mitch 49]

Now that's a fire station! Wish we had things like this in Australia.

[50-65 205]

Are you f'ing kidding me!!!!!!!!!! Must be nice to have taxpayers with deep pockets! $13,950,000 for 18,000 feet is $775/sq ft. .

And averaging about 260 calls per year.

How do you even try to justify that?

[SECTMB 612]

It's a lot of money. Whether it needs to be that much, I don't know. I do know that Millwood desperately needs a new firehouse. If you saw the current one, you would wonder why it wasn't condemned and taking down years ago along with the Granite House.

[Bnechis 3,961]

It's a lot of money. Whether it needs to be that much, I don't know. I do know that Millwood desperately needs a new firehouse.

Yes it is a lot, But Not knowing the needs/wants of the project it is hard to judge it.

3-4 years ago I was tasked with pricing out a replacment vs. referbing an existing house and at that time I was able to price a 3 bay (double deep) 2 story station with living quarters and assorted workspaces for between $5 and $6 million not including land (which was estimated between $0.8 and $1.1 million). This would not have been a main station and most likely did not have the same level of finnish, but still almost 1/2 the cost.

[SECTMB 612]

Yes it is a lot, But Not knowing the needs/wants of the project it is hard to judge it.

3-4 years ago I was tasked with pricing out a replacment vs. referbing an existing house and at that time I was able to price a 3 bay (double deep) 2 story station with living quarters and assorted workspaces for between $5 and $6 million not including land (which was estimated between $0.8 and $1.1 million). This would not have been a main station and most likely did not have the same level of finnish, but still almost 1/2 the cost.

I was actually being kind. It's absolutely necessary but rediculously expensive given my own experience in building firehouses in NY, CT and FL. When the original plans were published I made a post commenting on the fact that, at that time, it was an 18K SF structure with no accommodations for bunk rooms. 18K SF and you can't find a couple hundred SF for bunk space?

This is a common grievance I have when I see plans for new or renovated volunteer firehouses. Not including bunk space is not planning for future considerations. Perhaps the final construction documents have changed.

Bedford Hills had a contingency for bunk space in their renovation plans as an alternate, I don't know if they actually included it in the final construction.

[JetPhoto 626]

Is this the same dept that is getting a temporary firehouse built also

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Unless your department has NEVER spent money on anything that could be perceived as frivolous, you'd do well to remember that old phrase about stones and glass houses.

Personally I don't see why its a big deal, if their town has the money, good for them! Congratulations and best of luck with the new house.

Edited September 10, 2012 by SageVigiles

[IzzyEng4 427]

One of the towns in CT just opened up a brand new firehouse to replace their old headquarters costing $12 million. But the firehouse was well planned out with a separate apparatus bay area from the "living" area, a full training facility incorporated into it, administrative offices, emergency management center and also public space to be used for training, shelter and public meetings. Also too, the building incorporated green technology such as solar panels to produce power for the station.

Also having public space in a firehouse not only creates good PR but also opens up the door to more grants.

This is a building the department wanted and they designed it to last a minimum of 75 to 100 years.

[efdcapt115 1,511]

........(sic) you'd do well to remember that old phrase about stones and glass houses.

They're building this out of stone and glass? No wonder the price tag is so high! (wink)