The city of Gainesville will break ground on two new fire stations this year, with demolition already starting to prepare one of the sites.
Brian Singleton, interim chief operating officer, told the City Commission on Thursday that fire stations 3 and 9 would return for final approval and maximum cost caps. Those votes should happen in the next three to four months.
He said the city and HCA Florida would finalize the purchase of the property for Fire Station 9 on Friday. That station, currently housed in a temporary module structure at Butler Plaza, will be located next to the new HCA facility off Archer Road.
The temporary structure is already five years past its intended lifespan, and former GFR Chief Joe Dixon told the City Commission in 2024 that the space has severe needs.
Singleton told the commission at the same meeting that the public works department had been funded historically at half the industry target, meaning aging facility repairs would come with big price tags and little dedicated funding.
“We’ll make do with what we have, but it does come to a point where it is concerning,” Dixon said.
The new station, estimated at $30 million in 2024, will also include meeting space available for community groups as Gainesville lacks any city-owned meeting spaces in the southwest quadrant.
Fire Station 3 is at the city’s Eighth Avenue and Waldo Road complex. While the staff considered moving the station, the city decided to keep the station at that location. But the building is over 65 years old and needs to be replaced.
The city is redesigning the entire complex, and as part of the project, it emptied the Gainesville Fire Rescue offices on site. They’ve sat empty for over a year as the city worked to finalize plans.
Singleton said demolition of the GFR offices has already started to make way for the new station. Shifting where the station sits on the complex will help with future construction of Citizens Field, the Dwight H. Hunter Pool and a potential renovation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Multipurpose Center.
In October, the City Commission prioritized its list of projects on the site. The full redevelopment with new facilities would cost at least $84 million, forcing a scaled-back vision. The city is also in talks to sell Citizens Field to the School Board of Alachua County for a new stadium. That contract could return to a city meeting next month.
The majority of the fire station funding will come from the full-cent surtax that voters approved in 2022. The Wild Spaces Public Places half-cent surtax had existed before, but the city and Alachua County advocated for an additional half-cent to be used for roads, fire stations and infrastructure.
The city coined that side of the surtax Streets, Stations and Strong Foundations (SSSF).
SSSF will pay for the two stations and cover the bulk of the funding for the new property and evidence building for the police department. The city also used this surtax to restripe and pave North Main Street, with plans to redo NE Ninth Avenue as well.
Later this year, Mayor Harvey Ward said the city will demolish the old fire station on South Main Street. The property has been for sale, but because of the major remediation needed, Ward said no buyers have come forward. He said selling the property as a slab could be easier.