(VIDEO) St. Louis Park Welcomes New Fire Station

It's been a busy year in the world of St. Louis Park fire stations, and on Saturday, the city was able to show off half of the fruits of its labor.

A public grand opening ceremony was held at , with residents getting a chance to tour the new digs as well. The station went up in nearly the same spot as the old Station 2, which was to make room for the final phases of construction.

Across town, finishing touches are being put on the new , which also went up in basically the same spot as the existing station. A ribbon cutting will be held here on June 12, coinciding with the annual Fire Department Open House.

Fire chief Luke Stemmer said Saturday's grand opening was a "big day" for the department. The former stations—which were both more than 40 years old—were beginning to show significant structural wear and tear, Stemmer said. This included cracks on the floor underneath the fire trucks.

Additionally, the old stations were not constructed to current Americans With Disabilities Act standards, nor did they originally have women's restrooms, as the female firefighter was not commonplace when they went up.

The city's two new fire stations cost about $15.5 million and took about a year to build.