But official hopes it will be ready for 2026 move-in
With last week’s site plan approval for the city of Henderson’s new fire station, officials are preparing for construction of the 20,000-plus square foot building at the corner of Second and Adams streets.
The Henderson-Henderson County Joint Planning Commission unanimously approved the project site plan at its Sept. 3 meeting.
There’s not yet a set date for when construction will begin. Assistant City Manager Dylan Ward said a couple more steps need to occur before a bid can be put out.
First, bid plans and documents need to be finalized, which could take a couple weeks, Ward said.
Next, the project will need to be submitted to state government agencies that will review them. If there are pieces that need to be addressed, the city’s architect on this project, Brandstetter Carroll LLC of Lexington, may need to be addressed before the bid for the project goes out.
“Depending on how long that process takes and how many comments the state reviewer has, we anticipate that the project will bid following approval from the state and construction will begin soon after,” Ward wrote in an email to the Hendersonian.
He said that he expects the building to be ready to move in by 2026. At the time of the move-in, fire department administration and others who work at the location at the corner of Washington and Green streets will move to the new location.
When asked by a Henderson-Henderson County Joint Planning Commission member last week what would come of the old building at that time, Ward responded, “Good question.” Then followed with, “We intend to move operations from there.” He didn’t elaborate.
The current estimated price tag on a city project sheet supplied by City Manager Buzzy Newman lists the budgeted money for the station at $8.86 million. But as an estimate, that’s not set in stone.
“We won’t know for sure until we bid it,” Ward said.
The fire station will be the first sizeable building that has been constructed on Second Street since the city’s approval of the Gateway Zone District.
Local developer and businessman Roger Brown has constructed several homes on Second Street since the GZD zoning implementation, but there has not been as large of a building as what’s planned with the new fire station, said Brian Bishop, the executive director of the joint planning commission.
According to the city’s zoning regulations, the “Gateway Zone District is intended to provide for the development of a pedestrian- friendly, mixed-use, aesthetically pleasing entry-corridor into downtown Henderson from the proposed I-69 interchange. This Gateway Zone District is to promote the sense of place, and also provide opportunities to develop projects and properties compatible with a dense urban development pattern.”
It was passed in 2014.