Construction of New St. Louis Park Fire Stations Nears

The city of St. Louis Park is getting closer to the spring construction of two new fire stations.

During a Monday study session, City Council gave the project management team an informal OK to advertise for bids on the project. That approval will be formalized at council’s next meeting on March 7.

Construction companies will then have until the end of March to submit bids for various parts of the work, which is estimated to cost $15.5 million overall. Council is expected to approve bids in mid-April. Construction would then start soon after that and is expected to last through May 2012.

The two new fire stations will go up at essentially the same locations as the current and . The new stations, however, will each be three times larger and will feature state-of-the-art fire fighting equipment that the current stations can't support.

Construction on both new stations will start at the same time. Fire Station No. 2, which covers the northern part of St. Louis Park, will be able to remain open as a new building goes up immediately to the north. Fire Station No. 1 will not be able to stay open during construction, but fire chief Luke Stemmer said some of the department's operations will be able to shift to the city's in the meantime, as a temporary trailer will be set up there.

Stemmer said he is appreciative that the city is upgrading his department’s facilities.

"I like them," he said previously of the design plans for the new buildings. "I think they're innovative fire stations."